Nil Desperandum
by Nemesis13
Summary: Lelouch thought he'd won, having arranged his own death for world peace he awaited eternity in hell as his reward, what he hadn't expected was to wake up in a small ten year old girls body with no explanation. Bitter, jaded, tired, and lost Princess Luluka no longer cares about saving the world from itself, now she's on a journey to sow chaos for no other reason then that she can.
1. Never Despair

**This story started out as nothing more than an intellectual exercise while I was job hunting, (i.e. bored out of my skull) since I'd already done a few Harry Potter stories where Harry was a girl (different variants, born as, turned into, so on and so forth) I thought to myself what would happen if a very unhappy Lelouch was skipped a dimension and forced to do everything over again as a female? To top it off what happens when he has no morality pet and is quite simply a dangerous borderline sociopath with family issues? This is the end result, so far it's turned into a quite fun little story, hope you all enjoy and please _REVIEW!_**

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Lelouch woke up in pain, which if he were to be perfectly honest with himself wasn't all that different from when he fell asleep, or rather when he was brutally killed by his best friend for all the world to see in a gambit for lasting peace. Sitting up groaning he rubbed his chest were the tacky sword had ended his far too short life for the betterment of mankind while realizing everything about him was too...big. Snapping his eyes open he looked about the hut he found himself in and tried to stop the urge to begin hyperventilating, as he kicked his legs to push himself up against the wall he noticed a small boy enter the room.

Rather then scream about the "Demon King" or the "Great Satan" or whatever the hell he was being called these days the boy's kind jade eyes seemed to melt a bit when he saw the panicking figuring before him.

"Luluka, did you have another nightmare? Try to be quiet you know how Nunnally gets," and with that statement the weight of a thousand worlds fell on the Emperor of Lies mind; he had _died_ , simple as that the greatest evil the world had ever seen had died at its greatest heroes hand. But he wasn't dead, he wasn't anywhere he recognized for sure, and the boy before him had a striking resemblance to Suzaku, but all told he wasn't dead which was just confusing as hell because he _remembered_ dying.

"Su..zaku?" His voice was strained and far far far _far_ too light in tone, Suzaku threw him a worried glance and took a knee, putting a hand on Lelouch's forehead he sighed in near despair.

"Damnit, you've got a fever Luluka, do you think you can keep moving today? We're only twenty miles out from Tokyo, I think we missed my fathers escort so we'll have to do it on our own..." Lelouch let his mind off its usual leash to get some answers, apparently wherever and whenever he was he was currently female going by the name, either that or his family hated him far more than originally anticipated. He was currently residing in the Britannian invasion era Japan and they'd missed the hook up with Suzaku's dad which meant no patricide ending the war early, not good.

"I'm...fine Suzaku...we need to get moving...it'll be light soon," the little boy nodded sadly and they both stood to wake the small broken girl in the corner. Lelouch's heart panged when he saw Nunnally's state, and of course it made sense why they'd not made good time, as a pampered prince his body had been conditioned to at least _attempt_ physical activity, as a princess? Well...bollocks...

"Nunu...wake up honey we have to get going," silently cursing the collective unconsciousness for shoving him...wherever the hell he was Lelouch tried to rouse his baby sister again, after a few moments he noticed how cold she was. "No...nononononononono!" Shaking Nunnally repeatedly Lelouch felt tears welling in his eyes as he realized the truth of the matter, his little sister had died in her sleep because he hadn't been strong enough to get her to safety.

Pulling the tiny cold form to himself...or herself as it seemed to be she began sobbing into Nunnally's sweat and blood stained dress, Suzaku sat to the side eyes wide in open horror seeing his friend fall apart. Lelouch sat like that for well over twenty minutes while he held the body of his/her sister close, this gender bender deal was seriously screwing with his head in ways he didn't even want to contemplate at the moment. As his nerves began to settle he turned to Suzaku and asked,

"Are there any tools to dig a grave in this village?" Suzaku nodded solemnly as he began to stand, pausing and looking a bit guilty he turned back to his distraught friend,

"It might be easier if we placed her in a crater from the bombardment and filled it in, I know it sounds callous but we-" Lelouch or rather Luluka it would seem cut him off there.

"No, you're right Suzaku, and it's fitting, really, would...would you help me carry her?" Suzaku nodded sadly as he helped Luluka wrap the small form in a sheet, they struggled a bit carrying her out but they made due, neither was willing to drag the fallen angels mortal shell through the blood soaked streets. While making their way for one of the smaller impact craters left from the Britannian shelling the pair gingerly stepped around the bodies scattered about the ground not deigning it necessary to comment on the carnage, they'd reflect on the loss of so much innocent life later, at the moment they had a duty to perform.

Sliding down the side of their chosen crater without falling turned into a bit of a chore thanks to the early morning drizzle turning the normally sandy soil into slippery mud but they managed after a time. Suzaku let out a sobbing gasp when the sheet tore and Nunnally's limp hand still holding her teddy bear fell out, Luluka wasn't far behind if she were to be honest. Clamoring out of the hole they held each other in the warm misty rain and cried till they ran out of tears, once her gentle sobbing had stopped Luluka let her friend go sniffling a bit as she gave Suzaku a thankful look, he returned it with a kind sad smile; at very least she wasn't alone in her grief.

After the emotionally draining experience the pair began shoveling clods of muddy soil into Nunnally's impromptu grave, it took until late afternoon to finish the job and both children were exhausted afterwords. They knew they had to get moving but neither of them had the strength or willpower at the moment, retreating to their sagging hut Luluka curled into Suzaku for warmth as night fell, neither looked forward to the day ahead.

Suzaku awoke to a scratching noise, registering how cold he was the boy sat up and realized that Luluka was in the center of the room carving on a plank of wood with a determined glint in her violet eyes. Standing he walked towards her and stood over the project, reading what she was carving into the impromptu headstone with a blunt nail he could only nod in appreciation, it was a fitting epitaph for the gentle girl and her not so gentle big sister. When Luluka was finished she mixed some rain water with charcoal to fill in the letters, it wouldn't last forever but it was better then nothing he supposed.

"Here, let me hold it," Suzaku suggested gently as Luluka attempted to hammer the marker in place in the muddy soil with a rock, turning her filth stained face to her friend she nodded lightly in understanding. Holding the wood marker in place Suzaku refrained from wincing as Luluka pounded it into the ground with her impromptu hammer until she was satisfied, throwing a few loose stones over were Nunnally's body lay the pair fell against a near by tree panting in the summer heat after they'd finished.

"We need to get moving," Luluka stated tiredly, Suzaku nodded in return, that they did the Britannian's would be on the move and it was honestly a miracle none had seen them as they did their duty for Nunnally. Standing he offered a muddied hand to the bloodstained princess before him and she took it without question, as she was pulled up she paused and stared at the grave before her then to the dozens of rotting bodies in the village.

"Luluka, we need to-" she cut him off with a cold dead tone to her voice, a tone he'd never heard from the normally vibrant and perky girl,

"I'm going to kill them all Suzu, Britannia will burn, and I will be the one to light the pyre, so I swear on my baby sisters grave," turning to Suzaku he felt his throat tighten as he stared into the hate filled violet orbs burning a hole into his soul. He had no doubt in his mind that his good friend would do just as she said, her homeland would burn for the sins it had committed to his nation and her family, and may Kami have mercy on anyone caught in the crossfire.

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"It's over here ma'am, we haven't begun exhuming the grave yet we need your permission first but we thought you should see the marker regardless." Cornelia li Britannia was not in a good mood, when she found out her little sisters _hadn't_ been evac'd like her father had insisted they had she'd flown halfway across the world to save them. It would seem though that she was too late, after a frantic search the First Recon unit had found a marker in a small fishing village that had been written in the Emperor's English, and the wording did not bode well for anyone involved.

"Just show it to me Captain, we have an invasion to finish," she said with a tired aire, would her father never sate his lust for conquest? Sure she enjoyed a good fight but honestly for the life of her she couldn't figure out why they'd invaded Japan, err...Area Eleven, it just wasn't cost effective unless they intended to completely strip mine the isle chain.

"Right ma'am, here it is we found it three days ago, it umm...it's caused some dissent with the troops but I'll leave any actions to your discretion Princess," sighing Cornelia took a knee and read the carvings in the plain wood marker

 _Here Lies Princess Nunnally vi Britannia_

 _Beloved Sister, Innocent Daughter_

 _Betrayed By Her Country, Murdered By Her Father_

 _She Will Be Avenged_

 _Nil Desperandum_

Cornelia stood up and rubbed her eyes, exhaustion taking hold, another officer, one of the forensics team stepped forward with a plastic bag in hand holding a rough nail with specks of blood on it.

"Ma'am we did a preliminary sweep of the area, the DNA on the carving tool is confirmed, it was Princess Luluka vi Britannia," turning to the corpse clogged village and then back to the her little sisters grave Cornelia could only sigh.

"Something tells me we're going to be hearing from my sister in the future, and it won't be pleasant for anyone involved." Turning back to Nunnally's grave Cornelia began massaging her temples, Luluka had been her most clever sibling and while the girl was lovely and caring she always had a darkness to her, so much like her mother...and their father. Sighing Cornelia dropped her arms to her sides as she began barking out orders, it was best not to dwell on the future, not now, not while the wounds were still fresh, one thought did roll through her mind though,

"What am I going to tell Euphemia?"

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 **What indeed? Anyway Cornelia won't be seen again for a few chapters but she and Euphie will play a major part in Lulu's life later on, as always please _REVIEW!_**


	2. What is yours is now mine

_**Ok was inspired to actually make a full size chapter, Luluka is attracted to women, just making that clear, Lelouch didn't magically start liking guys just because he was tossed into a female body, that doesn't mean she's not willing to use her womanly wiles to get what she wants though. I decided to have a time skip because honestly I got the idea for this chapter and wanted to run with it, if you all don't like it my apologies, oh and Nil Desperandum means 'Never Despair' or 'Despair Nothing' depending on the context since so many asked about it.**_

 _ **Anyway this chapter contains a femslash lime scene, don't like it skip past it, upped the rating to just be sure, anywho read and REVIEW.**_

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 _ **June 13, 2016 A.T.B.**_

Luluka stared at the insincerely smiling service drone neutrally as he worked the computer terminal while trying to cast discrete glances down her blouse; her inner Lelouch was amused at how easy it was to distract men with a bit of skin but after being female for six years all she felt was disgust. Honestly with the attention she was getting with her rather modest 'C' cups she couldn't help but wonder how the hell Kallen handled the lewd stares she got for her assets, she'd have to bring it up to her next student council meeting.

"Your reservation is ready Miss Lamperouge, please enjoy your stay at The Tower of Babel," rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses she took the key card from the leering idiot and tried to ignore the goose prickles that formed as he stared at her ass as she walked away. Even the death glare from her jade eyed companion didn't seem to deter the man, Britannians, over entitled bastards the lot of them.

"Want me to kill him sis? I really don't mind, and this place is big enough that it shouldn't be a hassle to hide the body, and as a bonus he's unimportant enough no one will miss him," giving Suzaku a friendly pat on the shoulder as she laughed lightly Luluka shook her head in the negative sending her raven tresses waving.

"Sorry Suzu no justified homicide today, we've got a schedule to keep after all, Milly had to pull a _lot_ of strings to get us this appointment and I'd rather not piss my girlfriend off any time soon," ah _that_ had been a fun little scandal when it came out. It ended up dropping a young man into a girls body did nothing to alter his sexual preferences, and Milly, ever the deviant really didn't care what equipment her lover had in so long as they were capable of servicing her.

She threw a query to her inner Lelouch and asked _why_ he never shagged the insatiable blonde the first time around and the only answer that really made any sense was 'teenage angst,' she was drawn from these thoughts as her adopted brother chuckled at her comment.

"Too true, last time you two got into a row she took it out on the school, I still have nightmares about that Cross-Dressers ball," gender identification really wasn't a thing for Luluka anymore but she remembered Lelouch's first go around so she winced on Suzaku's behalf.

"Yeah not really sure what we were even fighting about, probably something to do with her parents and their inability to get over the fact that she refuses to get involved in an arranged marriage." She shrugged helplessly at that, first time around the blonde had at least humored her parents attempts, now that she was getting a healthy dose of sex on a regular basis she wasn't even bothering to let them think she'd go along with their machinations . Ruben Ashford thought it was funny though, and since _he_ was the one who let Luluka live at the academy due to nothing more than the goodness of his heart his opinion was the only one that mattered.

Suzaku clicked the 'up' button as they reached the lift and casually leaned against the wall, placing his briefcase on the ground he crossed his arms and braced one foot against the metal frame gently knocking his head against the cool steel.

"Britannians, if you're not nobility do your best to become a part of it," he muttered in thinly veiled disgust, Luluka sighed in agreement as she leaned on the opposite side of the lifts door facing her brother. Glancing about to see if there was anyone around she quietly replied,

"Or you do your best to become insanely wealthy and play the part," Suzaku snorted at the murmured quip, it was after all one of the reasons they were here today. Luluka liked to call her high stakes chess matches 'A socially acceptable means of redistributing the physical manifestation of the abstract concept known as work,' Suzaku (and Milly it ended up) preferred calling it 'Fleecing Idiots.' Luluka lamented her friends lack of eloquence but every time she brought it up Kallen would point out that not everyone carried around a thesaurus, uncultured gits the lot of them.

As the lift let out a cheery 'ding' announcing its arrival the pair stood and straightened their clothing, Suzaku was wearing a casual white suit with a tie as green as his eyes while Luluka wore a black skirt that ended above her knees and a blue blouse, both cut to show off her hourglass figure. It was the heels she couldn't stand, Lelouch, sadly, _knew_ how to walk in the damn things thanks to Milly and her perversions the first time around but it didn't make them hurt her feet any less.

Now sure that they looked presentable Suzaku picked up the case and they entered the lift, hitting the button for the twenty-eighth floor they both glanced up in annoyance at the speaker playing tacky music; Luluka very much wanted to pull her pistol from her purse and end the offending piece of audio equipment for torturing them so.

That was something else very Lelouch she'd had to try and tamp down over the years, he'd never had good impulse control; sure he could _fake_ _it_ like it was no ones business but so many stupid incidents could have been avoided with the Black Knights if he hadn't tossed aside his well laid plans for some seat of your pants idiocy. She grimaced at that remembering the catalyst for many of those actions, a dark part of her didn't want to admit it but with Nunnally dead, well...

She was saved from such thoughts as the doors opened and they were greeted by a smirking blonde in a lavender sundress, as always Milly managed to make the most mundane clothing look like a ball gown. While Luluka appreciated the view she secretly hated her girlfriend a bit for it, what Milly did in ten minutes took her two hours, as Suzaku would often lament while he waited outside her bathroom door.

"Hello lover, Suzu, you two ready?" Leaning in and kissing Milly's full lips eliciting a throaty groan from the taller woman Luluka pulled back and gave her a cheeky smile as Milly pouted obviously not getting her fill.

"Always ready dear, is the match set?" Milly nodded and worried her lip a bit a contemplative look playing across her face, her eyes darted down the hall than shifted to meet Suzaku's,

"How much do you have on you?" Hefting the stainless steel armored case as if it weighed nothing Suzaku tapped its side with his free hand,

"Two and half million pounds sterling, we dipped into most of our liquid assets for this one, are we sure we can trust this guy?" Milly crossed her arms below her rather ample chest and Luluka had to do her best not to stare at the offered bounty, business first, pleasure later.

"Honestly? No, but with the ante registered this is all above board, he _has_ to pay up when you win, but this guy has a habit of gaining back what he loses," she reached up and pulled Luluka's sunglasses off to stare into her violet eyes. "Be careful with this guy babe, I know you wanted this for our...extra curricular activities but this man is not to be crossed, none of your sarcasm or cutting wit, just play the game and get out of there all right?" Luluka was touched by the concern but felt it was not warranted, Milly and Suzaku weren't privy to the second part of her plan so she really couldn't tell her that she _wanted_ this guy angry for a very good reason.

"Damn, ok Milly got it," exchanging glances with a now worried Suzaku she took in a calming breath and motioned for Milly to lead on, slipping back into her usual 'mildly amused with the world around her' persona the blonde knocked on a heavily gilded white and gold door. There was a mechanical click and the door swung in on its own, the trio entered the room and Luluka felt her eye twitch seeing the ostentatious decor, ignoring it she focused on the man in the center of the room reclining in an expensive leather chair.

Before the man was a chess board already set up for play, opposite of him was an identical chair and a small side table beside it, atop it was a bucket of ice holding a bottle of some undoubtedly expensive wine and a glass. Meeting the mans eyes Luluka immediately knew she was dealing with someone who didn't hesitate to get his hands dirty, his dark nearly black orbs held a glint of malice she was well familiar with; after all she saw it every morning in the mirror. Knowing that this man was a commoner and she too was playing as one she didn't bother with a curtsy as she approached him, he gave her an appraising look before reaching to his own side table and sipped from a flute of wine,

"Miss Lamperouge, you are at the very least punctual, I will give you that much," taking another sip of his wine the room was roaring with the uncomfortable silence, it was a cheap intimidation tactic, Lelouch had never bothered with that sort of thing he'd always had too much of a flair for the dramatic. Luluka took the time to analyze the industrialist and most likely member of the mob; mid forties, tallish, creepy dark brown eyes, blonde goatee, perfectly coiffed equally blonde hair, bearing indicates trained in CQC, interesting but irrelevant at the moment. Letting a bit of trepidation slip into her voice Luluka quietly spoke,

"I'm pleased to finally meet you Mister Argyle," she nervously licked her lips while shooting her gaze at the mans two body guards, they were leering at her from over Argyle's shoulders doing a good job of looking intimidating. Inner Lelouch was cackling as these fools played to Luluka's tune, they honestly thought she was scared, that was so...adorable. Argyle nodded once and gave her a brief predatory smile,

"Oh I assure you my dear the pleasure is all mine, imagine my surprise when one of my older...associates... granddaughter contacted me for a high stakes game of chess. Now while your ante is of course respectable and my loss would be irritating it would not be financially debilitating, that being said I have a bit of an...offer to spice up the stakes of this game." Luluka raised an incredulous brow at that while glancing to Suzaku and Milly, both looking incredibly nervous, breaking open the wine bottle beside her she poured a glass and took a sip, it was a red, she bloody hated red wine.

"And what would those stakes be Mister Argyle?" His smile belonged on a snake for all the warmth it held,

"Please call me Nathan, we are after all amongst friends," Luluka's eyes narrowed, so that was his game was it? More than likely he assumed Luluka and her friends were a bunch of stupid rich kids who had gotten in over their heads, if he wasn't trying so hard to emulate a bored noble she'd probably find this amusing. Coughing lightly while putting a nervous titter to her voice she replied,

"A-all right Nathan, what is your offer?" As his gaze crawled up and down her body she got the distinct impression that he was undressing her with his eyes, the fact that he unconsciously licked his lips did not help, so gross.

"You're quite a beautiful young lady Luluka, it is after all one of the reasons I agreed to this, being in the same room with such splendor is something the common man does not normally get to enjoy." Her first thought was 'Well no shit I'm an Imperial Princess dumbass,' her second thought was 'Wow, this is going to be even easier than I anticipated, go creepy old guy'.

"You flatter me Nathan, but what does this have to do with our game?" Milly shot her a look that told her she was going to be paying for this later, her friends now realized she was playing a part, alas the things a woman must do to get what she wants, it'd be worth it.

"Well my dear, if I win I want _you_ for oh, lets say a week, I think that would be enough time to enjoy a nubile flower such as yourself," Suzaku's fists clenched and teeth gritted, Milly's face just became a solid expressionless mask. Putting on a panicked aire and blushing deeply Luluka stammered out,

"Y-y-you want to have sex with me!?" He and his goons all leared at her while he gestured towards her with his half empty glass,

"Amongst...other things, yes, what do you say?" Trying her best to keep up the embarrassed, panicking schoolgirl routine she asked,

"What do I get if I win?" The man made a noncommittal hum and one of his goons handed him a tablet computer, typing into it he offered it to her, Suzaku stifly marched forward and took it from the industrialist, glancing down he whistled and handed it to Luluka. She felt her eyebrows raise at the offered stocks, they were for Britannian arms manufacturers including producers of Knightmare Frames, it was a good thing the tablet blocked her face, the evil grin that slipped across her lips would have ruined the entire charade.

"Is that acceptable?" Luluka glanced up to meet his gaze, she could tell the man was already planning on all the perversions he was going to indulge in with her body, without hesitating she pushed her thumb on the scanner and accepted the terms. At another time Lelouch may have balked at the idea of selling flesh, much less his own, but Luluka was a hard woman, she'd had to be to survive and thrive, besides which she had no intention of losing. Handing the tablet to Suzaku who gave it back to Argyle Luluka bridged the tips of her fingers together while bracing her elbows on her knees, leaning forward her violet eyes grew cold earning a speculative eyebrow from the industrialist.

"White goes first Mister Argyle, let us begin," the match was, if Luluka was going to be honest with herself here, one of the most harrowing she'd ever had, say what you will about the man he _knew_ how to play. While he wasn't up to Schneizel's level it took her nearly a half hour to finally get him in checkmate, as she leaned back to look over her hard won victory she glanced up as she heard a glass shatter. Argyle was staring at her with rage laced eyes, his face was purpling and blood dripped from his hand as the shards of the crushed glass cut into his palm and fingers, giving the man a bored look she stood and took the tablet from one of his guards.

Humming to herself as she made sure the stocks were transferred into her name she gave the trio of men a jaunty grin,

"Pleasure doing business with you lads, where is the cash?" Argyle seemed to get his rage under control as one guard offered him a handkerchief for his bleeding hand and the other picked up a case from behind his bosses chair, he cracked it open to show her the rows of high denomination bills and she nodded her approval. Taking the case she began leading her friends out when Argyle snarled,

"Enjoy the money while you can you little bitch, it won't do you good for long," waving over her shoulder Luluka entered the hall quickly followed by Milly and Suzaku, Milly for her part let out a long withering sigh as she wrapped an arm around the shorter woman's waist.

"Or you could completely and utterly humiliate the man guaranteeing retribution, that works too," Suzaku didn't give Luluka a chance to reply as he threw out,

"What the hell did you think you were doing selling yourself like some cheap whore? Did you honestly think I'd let that pig take my sister like that?" Touched, but a bit annoyed at her adopted brothers over protectiveness she rolled her eyes as she slipped on her sunglasses,

"Relax Suzu, Milly, everything is going according to plan, I got more than I actually anticipated from this and there will be yet more to come tonight, trust me have my plans ever failed?" They paused considering this but eventually Milly raised a single finger before quipping,

"Remember when we were thirteen and you decided to try and hook Rivalz up to that-" Luluka winced and covered her girlfriends mouth who gave her an incredulous look as she still tried to talk despite being muffled,

"Yes yes yes, we couldn't get the stains off the walls and had to repaint the clubhouse I remember, my defense, how was I supposed to know?" Huffing she dropped her hand as they reached the lifts once again, entering she handed Suzaku the case as she turned to face her brother,

"Milly and I will be staying in room 1403 tonight, get that money back to base and take the rest of the night off, why not take Shirley out for a few hours or something?" He sighed and nodded as he shifted around the pair of heavy cases,

"Fine fine, are you sure you'll be ok here? I know you planned this evening of debauchery for awhile but still..." Luluka waved his concern off as she took to her tip toes and kissed his forehead, she really wanted to kick the Collective Unconsciousness in the shins for making her so damn petite.

"We'll be fine, take care now," giving her one last look he nodded and remained silent, as they stopped at the fourteenth floor the two young woman stepped out of the lift and said their goodbyes, fishing her key card out of her purse Luluka slid it into the door scanner and pushed it open. If she were to give the suite a one word name it would be 'Posh', pulling her pistol from her purse she put it on the sideboard after making sure the chamber was loaded and the safety was on, stretching out she let out a squeak as the taller woman wrapped her arms around her waist and reached up cupping her breasts.

Luluka let out a soft gasp as Milly began kissing and suckling on her neck, leaning her head to the side as the blondes tongue slid up her face she let out a moan as Milly sucked on her earlobe while kneading the ravenettes breasts. Luluka offered no resistance as Milly quickly unbuttoned her blouse and unclasped her bra, breaking the embrace only long enough for the other teen to pull the offending clothes of her lover she soon was mewling in pleasure as Milly began to bite and tease her nipples.

Squeaking as she was pushed onto the bed she felt her heart beat faster as Milly lithely pulled down her sundress, and of course she wasn't wearing any undergarments; as the blonde crawled up Luluka's body she gasped as she felt a finger dip under her panties. Kissing her girlfriend deeply as their breasts pressed together they both moaned in pleasure, 'Today,' Luluka began reflecting, 'Today has definitely been a great day.'

After what can only be considered a sexual marathon the likes of which would earn them a special place in hell the two naked young women lay intertwined, both were in desperate need of a shower but at the moment they were content to stay as they were. As Luluka began to fade to sleep Milly abruptly asked,

"Do you love me?" Lelouch probably would have had a panic attack right then, probably one of the many reasons he'd avoided relationships in general honestly, but Luluka had grown into a mature young woman and learned a few lessons along the way so she remained calm.

"No, as a best friend and a lover I don't think I could ever find someone quite like you, and I do care about you, but what we have isn't really love I don't think," Milly sighed and pulled her closer after that which was admittedly odd.

"That's what I always like about you babe, you don't lie to save peoples feelings unless you want something from them, I was just curious, I don't really love you either but this relationship is quite fun, plus it really pisses off my parents." Luluka laughed at that and turned to meet the blondes mischievous gaze, running a hand through her thick hair she pulled her into another kiss,

"Well I'm glad I could be of service, whats say we take a shower, have a bit of fun and go hit the casino, we've acquired enough ill begotten gains to have one hell of a night, plus they don't card you when you're rich." Returning the kiss Milly sat up stretching as she nodded her consent, the pair made it into the bathroom and entered the steaming shower, Luluka undid the now very messy plait in her hair when she saw Milly go to her knees. Violet eyes opened wide as she let out a sharp gasp, yeah Lelouch had absolutely no idea what the hell he'd missed the first time around.

It was a very hungover Luluka that was startled awake later that evening, looking at her bedside clock she saw that it was two in the morning, groggily looking at the source of her awakening she gasped seeing Argyle and his goons staring down at herself and Milly.

"Ello poppet, miss me?" Tapping the device she'd left under her pillow she made for her pistol when one of the goons grabbed her by the throat and threw her against the headboard, Milly let out a strangled scream as she awoke to three men surrounding their bed. "Now now none of that, my boys and I were so disappointed that you didn't stick around, and besides we really wanted to-" he licked his lips as he stared at the two women dressed in nothing but their nighties, "sample what we were denied, now why don't you show me what a dirty little whore you can be before I start hurting your friend." The reaction they got from the ravenette was not expected, she laughed, oh god how she laughed, she laughed so hard that even Milly was afraid her girlfriend had lost it, after a few moments of this the man snarled getting her attention.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry, it's just...you think you're a threat, that's just so...adorable!" The goateed mans face went purple with rage as he swung his hand back to smack her when the door banged open, three masked figures rushed in and fired suppressed pistols at the gathered thugs, the subsonic rounds dropping both of Argyle's men in seconds. Closing the door behind them the three pushed the man in the corner while Luluka sneered at him. One of the black clad gunmen turned to the ravenette and spoke with a bemused tone,

"Had fun I take it Zero?" Smirking she sauntered over to the now deathly pale industrialist,

"Ze-Zero?! You're Zero!?" The trio snickered at that while Luluka turned to the original speaker,

"Of course I did Kallen, now Ohgi, Naoto, please dope up this son of a bitch and take him back to base, no need to be gentle. I want cache locations, liquid asset accounts and names of business partners, after he's wrung dry dispose of him," the taller of the two men jammed a needle into Argyle's neck and the panicking blonde began to relax, there was a cough from the bed and Luluka winced when she turned around and saw a very angry Millicent Ashford staring at her.

"Have something to share with the class?" Luluka sighed inwardly, bollocks, and it had been such a wonderfully productive day too...

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 **Yes she will eventually regain her Geass, but that doesn't mean she relies only on it to pave the way for her revenge. Anyway hope you liked it, please review!**


	3. Diffusing Milly and Other Anecdotes

**Kind of a bridging chapter, next chapter is going to be a mix of flashbacks detailing the early founding of the Black Knights and Luluka's overarching plan for the world. Oh and the entire deal with detailing her outfit was just basically me describing her standard casual clothes, kinda like Lelouch's jeans and leather jacket, no biggy just thrown in there, anywho read and review!**

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Luluka was eyeing her girlfriend wearily as the blonde paced about the hotel room one hand pinching the bridge of her nose the other placed firmly on her hip, deciding it was best to let Milly wind herself down Luluka observed Kallen out of the corner of her eye. The fiery redhead was whistling to herself as she mopped up the blood spilt by the dead thugs as Naoto wrapped their ruptured skulls in plastic wrap, once the mess was cleaned up the two men lifted the bodies and shoved them into heavy duty trash bags.

Her inner Lelouch mused how happy Kallen was in this timeline, apparently performing acts of sedition and terrorism was more fulfilling when she did it with family, who knew? Resisting the urge to laugh at her own twisted brand of humor Luluka snapped to attention as Milly finally cooled down enough to talk,

"Ok, why the whole elaborate ruse, why get me involved if you weren't going to let me in on it and most importantly WHY DID YOU NOT LET ME IN ON IT?!" Wincing as she threw a pleading look towards Naoto and Ohgi she could only scowl as they exchanged a few pound notes obviously placing bets, prats. Never mind the fact that she and Milly would probably do the same thing if they were observing a domestic dispute such as this; Luluka reserved the right to be a hypocrite she was royalty damnit!

"All right last question first, I didn't tell you before because there was only a thirty percent chance that he would take the bait so to speak, and only roughly a fifteen percent chance that he'd personally come along. Since the probability was so low I just had a few Knights waiting in reserve and planned on having a not so quiet evening out with you," Sighing Luluka pulled her hands through her messy hair wishing not for the first time Lelouch had _something_ resembling relationship experience to call in on.

Crossing her arms she began pacing a bit before continuing, "That all changed though when we were introduced, when he admitted that he wanted to shag me the probability jumped up to fifty and forty percent respectfully, after I saw the stocks which by the way? Did not see that coming, it jumped up to eighty and seventy-five. Embarrassing him and being mildly taunting kicked it up to ninety percent even, why I had a summons device under my pillow." Milly glared at her a moment then huffed out an exasperated sigh,

"So initially you didn't even think he'd come after you?" Luluka nodded quickly sensing she might actually not end up sleeping on the couch for a week,

"Right, but once all the variables were known I knew the bastard would come after me, I didn't tell Suzaku simply because I knew he'd try and stop it from happening, I love him dearly but he is just too damn over protective at times." This got a snort from Kallen who glanced at her own brother before she muttered,

"Know how that goes," this earned her an exasperated sigh from the man but both the ravenette and blonde ignored the byplay,

"Anyway as to your first question I don't have any pull with the hotel staff, incredibly wealthy and invested in dozens of high end companies sure, but not this one." She wasn't going to mention that there was a reason for that, not now anyway; honestly she was really hoping she could pull a Lelouch and drop the tower on another nobleman like last time, it had been amusingly destructive. "But Argyle did, and since this place is covered in CCTV cameras he'd need to pull some strings to get here without anyone knowing." Milly's eyes widened at that as she suddenly understood where this was going,

"And since it wouldn't do for a well off community leader and businessman to be seen entering a room where two teen girls had been raped and murdered..." Luluka nodded while grinning,

"Bastard had the entire floor put on a loop, there were rumors that he'd done it before, why I wanted us to go after him specifically, anyway that's the basic jist of it of it hon. Once we ditch the bodies and get Argyle back to base and under Sayoko's tender care we'll steal his shit pop a round in his head, toss him in the river and be done with it," there would be more to it obviously but brevity and levity worked best on an annoyed girlfriend, or so Luluka hoped.

Milly shook her head as she began getting dressed, seeing as how the argument seemed to be completely diffused Kallen extended her hand to the two older men while grinning, both grumbled as they slapped the gathered money into her hand. As she counted the notes she quietly stated,

"And that gentleman is why you never bet against Zero," a very special place in Luluka's heart warmed up hearing that, Lelouch's Red Queen speaking those words even now just...well it made Luluka truly happy she'd saved the ever loyal pilots big brother. Said big brother helped Ohgi manhandle the body laden luggage trolley through the door while Kallen guided the heavily drugged Argyle into following them, she turned to wave goodbye to her fellow student council members and terrorists and than closed the door.

They stood in silence for a few moments before Milly began chuckling to herself, soon she broke down into peels of laughter all the while her concerned girlfriend watched her in worry, eventually she wiped away the tears that had run down her face while shaking her head, the blonde then abruptly pulled Luluka into a passionate, if startling kiss. Luluka had no idea where this came from but seeing as how a physical tongue lashing was infinitely more preferable to a verbal one she wasn't going to complain. After a time Milly broke the kiss and chuckled again,

"Please Lulu, never stop being a manipulative bitch, my life would be far too boring without you in it," throwing the other woman a wry grin Luluka gave her a casual salute with a,

"Aye aye ma'am, I shall remain perfectly conniving for your own personal amusement," Nodding sagely Milly motioned towards the dresser before replying,

"Good good now that we've established this get dressed we're going home, I'm not sleeping in a room where my friends wacked a pair of thugs," snorting out an amused laugh Luluka couldn't stop smirking as she got dressed. It really was a pity that they didn't love each other, otherwise this relationship would be something worth working on keeping, ah well.

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When Jeremiah Gottwald was roused from his sleep at six in the morning on his day off he really wasn't the happiest man in the world, groggily groping about for the phone off the nightstand the bluenette sleepily yawned as he hit 'talk' and grunted out,

"Gottwald, what is it?" Upon hearing the amused laughter on the other end he was immediately alert, "My Lady, my apologies I didn't-" he was cut off by his Princess before he could truly begin as she let out a brief scoff,

"Save it Jerry you know I don't like standing on formality with you, look sorry for waking you up but Phase Two of the Op went off without a hitch and I was wondering if you and Sayoko could work the bastard over today, I know it's your day off but we need to crack him before his staff notices he's missing." Sighing Jeremiah glanced over to the opposite side of the bed where his girlfriend was currently curled up sound asleep, grimacing he rubbed the sand from his eyes and yawning again.

"Of course your Highness, we'll be there within the hour, we stayed at my flat instead of Ashford tonight so-" she once again cut him off much to the Knights chagrin,

"It's fine Jerry seriously, I know you two look at following my orders as your sworn duty but I don't expect you to mold your entire lives around my whims, I'm not my father," she spat the last bit out in disgust while Jeremiah could only nod in agreement, she was most certainly not her father, she was far scarier.

"Very well, I will speak to you soon My Lady," turning off the phone you tossed it back on the nightstand while absently scratching his chest, he'd shower first than wake Sayoko, no need for her to lose as much sleep as he was. Jeremiah shivered and snapped his head back in shock as he jumped into the still cold shower and only began relaxing as the water heated up, groaning in appreciation as steam billowed about him he was brought out of his reverie when the glass door was slid back. Turning he smirked as Sayoko's lithe form entered the shower with him, wrapping an arm around the terrifying ninja maid she let out a slight chuckle as he nibbled on her ear, tilting her head back the Japanese woman kissed him before letting her face fall back into its usual neutrality.

"I take it the young mistress needs us?" Jeremiah nodded slowly as he began shampooing her hair, glad to have these little distractions, living a double life as an Imperial officer and a Knight of Honor tended to put quite a bit of stress on ones life and so he'd learn to enjoy any downtime he got, even at this ungodly hour.

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As her alarm went off Luluka sat up grumbling in irritation, blearily glaring at the clock she rather violently slammed her palm down on the snooze button, ten in the morning, she'd managed to get four hours of sleep after last nights escapades and frankly it wasn't enough. Grumbling about lost beauty sleep she rolled out of bed and snorted when she realized Milly was still dead to the world, she'd let the blonde sleep in she wasn't needed for anything at the moment and a well rested Milly was a happy Milly. After showering and drying her hair Luluka dressed in a black blouse and mid thigh length skirt, she pulled on a pair of stockings that went to above her knees followed by a pair of low heels, topping off the ensemble was a knee length white jacket.

Leaving her room and gently closing the door behind her she found Suzaku already awake reading a stack of reports, the skinny jeans and t-shirt showcasing his athletic form as his sneaker clad feet sat propped on the table, humming to himself casually he glanced up and smiled as he threw Luluka a jaunty salute.

"Morn'in sis, Naoto tells me you had a bit of an interesting morning," the Princess winced at that, his tone was nonchalant but his green eyes were practically screaming his annoyance with her at the moment. Sitting primly she helped herself to the mug he'd left on the table for her and sipped the wonderful life giving caffeine,

"Yes, I'm about to go down to the base to see what Sayoko and Jerry got out of the bastard, did you want to come with?" Sighing in exasperation he stood and gently pulled her to her feet, wrapping his arms around her he gave her a brief squeeze before letting go.

"Please, please don't do anything like that without letting me know in the future, I know you're little miss badass warrior princess but there's no reason to take the risks you do on your own, that _is_ why we founded the Black Knights recall?" Sighing Luluka really wanted to be irritated at the moment but inner Lelouch was too pleased with having his best friend on his side like this to really let it take hold, still she was the head of Japan's most prevelent if silent resistance movement and Lelouch's battlefield attitude hadn't changed with his gender.

"Suzu, a queen cannot expect her people to follow unless she is willing to lead the charge, and-" he threw his arms in the air in exasperation as he began pacing about the room,

"And only those that are willing to die should be allowed to kill, I know! But come on Luluka, we've been through so much together, we've lost so much and we're all each other really have, what would happen to me if something were to happen to you? Do you think I'd actually last longer than a week before I decided to end it all and charge headfirst into the first Britannian base I could find and take as many of the bastards with me as possible?" Luluka frowned at that, the idea of Suzaku throwing his life away like that paralleled far too much with his attitude in her previous life, "You declared war on your family for what they did to my country and I abandoned my fathers call to join the JLF to keep you safe, so please, _let_ me keep you safe."

Cocking her head to the side the Princess stared at him blankly for a few moments before giving him one of her rare warm smiles that had previously been reserved only for Nunnally, walking up to the taller man she wrapped him in a tight hug before sighing out in exasaperation.

"I love you, you bloody over protective kind hearted git, all right you win next time I'll let you know before hand," releasing him she took a step back than poked him in the chest with her finger, "But you better damn well realize I'm not _asking_ for permission I'm just letting you in on it, you're not my boss even if you have a head and a half on me." Smirking he patted her head gently earning him an annoyed growl which only made him laugh,

"All right Lulu, I can accept that compromise, now whats say we find out what secrets Mister Creeper has revealed?" Hooking her arm through his she led him towards the hidden lift that took them to the antechamber for their underground base,

"Lets, I'm hoping for some Knightmare parts myself, we've built up a sizable force but spare equipment and ammunition are always a pain to get our hands on," he hummed an agreeing tone as they rode the lift down and scanned their security passes. Passing through the armored security doors the pair entered a massive underground hanger lined with assembly gantries and half finished Knightmare frames, the bustling of the few personnel on duty drowned out by the heavy machines slowly churning out Gloucesters. That had been Jeremiah's idea, custom manufacture high end ace units and just steal the grunts from Britannian depots and convoys, thus far it had proven to be quite an efficient setup; mind that having a man on the inside helped said thefts but Luluka wasn't one to complain about small favors.

"Boss!" Turning Luluka's brows rose as a breathless Naoto sprinted over to her, the older man was grinning widely his ocean blue eyes sparking with excitement, "Boss, we've hit the jackpot with Argyle," Suzaku cocked his head to the side and asked,

"What do you mean Naoto?" Rubbing his hands together greedily the redhead cackled a bit before continuing,

"We're gonna need trucks, lots and lots of trucks, tell me Zero, how would you like to get your hands on an entire platoon of Royal Marine Portman II's?" Luluka's grin turned absolutely feral and both men in her presence had to resist the urge to shiver, as Luluka's mind began formulating plans with this new information she quietly asked,

"Naoto, Foundation Day is in little under two months, how long do you think it would take for our knights to get their sea legs?" Naoto paused and scratched his chin a moment before shrugging,

"Give me a month solid and I can have every machine manned if Argyle wasn't inflating the numbers, what do you have planned?" Giggling in a very none Lelouch manner she spun on her toe and briskly walked towards her office,

"Oh, only about 7.8 billion pounds in property damage, get Tamaki and Inoue I have a special job for them, this is going to be...memorable."

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 **Whether male or female Lelouch loves himself some boom, everything is better with boom, anyway I think I need to edit this a bit more but I'll get on it later, hope you enjoyed and please review!**

 **ALSO! Setting up a poll on Luluka's love interest in my profile, yes yes its femslash, well sort of, it's all a bit confusing but I'm letting you all decide, should be fun yeah? Anyway please pop over and give me your input!**


	4. Where does she get those marvelous toys?

**Much to my honest surprise the poll ended in a tie, between Kallen and C.C., considering I had offered hetero pairings I didn't expect you lot to wanna keep this femslash but hey, to each their own. Since I really didn't want this to turn into a polygamist relationship for Luluka (Thats her fathers thing and the less she emulates him the better off she feels) we're going to play it by ear and have Lulu flirt with both and when the time comes we'll...hell I dunno, flip a coin? Or more likely have another vote, right rambling, moving on.**

 **I know I said there would be flashbacks but I decided against it at least for the time being, I've never been fond of them therefore and thusly have no real experience at it, so enjoy the buildup next chapter is going to be nothing but boom, lots and lots and lots of boom.**

 **Oh, and if someone wants to volunteer to beta this lemme know, my good friend is willing to read over this looking for glaring plot holes like he did for 'Let Me Share the Burden' but he really doesn't have the time to go over it with a fine tooth comb.**

 **As always REVIEW!**

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Since Inoue and Tamaki lived in the outskirts of the Tokyo ghettos like the majority of the Black Knights Luluka was well aware that they'd take some time to respond to her summons. Concurrently she'd sent Naoto and Ohgi out with as many of their people as they could muster to strip Argyle's warehouses clean, the Princess in exile couldn't keep the affectionate smirk off her face as Kallen and Suzaku ogled the constantinly updating list of supplies they'd acquired.

"Knightmare sniper rifles, anti-air missile pods, energy fillers, processed sakuradite, more small arms than we can reasonably ever use, hey sis you got your wish spare parts for Sutherlands and Gloucasters as well as a dozen complete Glasgows. Huh they were all configured for the Knightpolice so they're equipped with pistols and knives, never tried those before," Suzaku stated as he stared down at the tablet computer. Kallen leaned back in her chair as she threw her two pence in,

"If we get a hold of Kaguya I'm sure she can pull some strings to have them upgraded into Burais, I know you aren't fond of them but extra armor and cockpit overhauls never hurt," Luluka nodded slowly at the suggestion while she tapped her lips with her index fingers before replying.

"Yes that's an idea considering the new recruits handle them better anyway, they're lighter and more agile than Sutherlands and replacement parts are easy enough to get from Kyōto House," the Princess grimaced as she dropped her head in annoyance as another thought struck her. "Although I'll let you handle the call since Kaguya seems to be intent on trying to get herself betrothed to me," she said the last bit with an eye roll that earned her a snort from her two friends. Honestly as if it hadn't been exasperating enough to deal with the bubbly young heiresses infatuation with Zero as Lelouch, the fact that she was pursuing his female persona was just further proof fate liked to mess with her head. Suzaku twirled a pen between his fingers still reading from the tablet as he glanced over the device to mask his smirk,

"Yeah who'd have guessed my little cousin was willing to swing that way just to be with 'The Great Zero', I mean your proclivities aside she doesn't even know you'd actually consider it," he needled his sister playfully. Kallen snickered at that as the Princess shot them both a withering glare.

"Bloody hell Suzu shes thirteen for crying out loud, and the last thing I want is to attach myself to a fangirl who hasn't even seen me out of my armor! Really it wouldn't be so bad if you'd stop encouraging her," Suzaku shrugged looking anything but apologetic,

"What can I say I need to get my laughs in somehow, plus I know you'd never take her up on it, if Kyōto had even the vaguest ideas that you're less of an idealist freedom fighter and more of a vengeful sociopath well..." Luluka scowled at that as she spun her office chair around stopping when she faced her brother.

"Hey thanks to Kirihara they already know I'm Britannian _and_ female, if they're supporting us now what makes you think they'll back out if they get the entire story?" Kallen gave her friend a disbelieving look as she casually snatched the tablet from Suzaku who shot her a quick glare in return,

"Uh you're a Britannian _Princess_ hell bent on burning your home countries nobility to the ground, unless they get your reasons behind it they'll think you're using them as a means to claim the throne. Which lets be honest here you're going to have to do regardless if we manage to pull this off." Luluka's expression turned sour at that as she deflated a bit,

"Yeah...there's that too," honestly the necessity of hiding her true status as a princess hadn't been a difficult thing to accept, while the Black Knights as a whole were aware that she was a Britannian woman they looked past that since she was a strategic genius and their chief financer. That being said It wouldn't be hard to imagine they'd all likely turn on her in an instant if they knew she was royalty, that little facet was known only to her inner circle, Lelouch had learned his lesson well on that front; don't hide everything from everyone, rather most of it from the majority.

Deciding it best to just change the subject Luluka was saved further argument when the door banged open announcing the arrival of two Black Knights with rather colorful skill sets. Shinichirō Tamaki and Naomi Inoue were two of Lelouch's biggest blunders the first time around, mostly because he'd never bothered assessing what they were actually _good_ at and simply shoved them where he needed them.

Apparently Naomi had worked as a teacher at the same highschool Ohgi taught at, her background in chemistry had made her an asset to Luluka's earlier acts of terrorism and the blue haired woman had yet to fail coming up with delightfully innovative methods of destruction. Tamaki had been the shocker, while he'd been an absolutely horrid pilot and administrator despite his desire to be a bureaucrat it ended up he was a skilled tinkerer and was mechanically inclined thanks to working in his dads machine shop most of his teenage years.

While they didn't really _like_ each other that much ("Goddamnit Tamaki" was the blue haired woman's personal mantra after all) they managed to weave together creative forms of property damage that would have Lelouch nodding in approval. The grin that spread across the Princess's face at the pairs entrance caused Suzaku and Kallen to exchange concerned looks while simultaneously exciting the new arrivals, Zero wanted boom, and everyone loved boom.

After outlining what she wanted from her resident mad bombers and the time frame she had to work with Luluka exited the office to make her daily sojourn through the academy above to play up her innocent schoolgirl act; if there was one thing the aristocracy had taught Lelouch it was that appearances meant everything and it was best to present ones self as harmless. Before she could reach the lifts she noticed Sayoko standing to the side gesturing towards the Princess, smiling fondly at the protective assassin she quickly followed her into a small office. Closing the door behind her Sayoko gave Luluka a brief bow and a smile,

"Your Highness, Jeremiah would like a word with you if you would be willing to wait a few moments?" Nodding as she fell into one of the offices uncomfortable folding chairs usually reserved for screening new recruits Luluka kicked her legs up on the desk making sure to cross them in a ladylike fashion. _That_ had been one of Lelouch's earlier blunders in this new life, outside of the new social queues was the obvious attempts at modesty and decorum, eventually she'd given up on it largely and just emulated Cornelia, it made life easier for all those involved.

"Sure thing Sayoko, you can take a seat if you want I sincerely doubt anyone is going to take a shot at me in here," the faux maid persona slipped a bit as the Japanese woman's gaze hardened and the skin around her eyes tightened.

"When you are most at ease is when you should be most on guard Your Highness," her tone was mildly reproachful and Luluka couldn't but help smiling sheepishly feeling as if she'd just been chided as a child. She paused at that thought, taking into account Sayoko's skill set and mothering nature towards her charge that comparison was probably more apt then not; before she could really delve into the thoughts of parental proxies the door opposite from the one she entered opened slowly.

Jeremiah Gottwald entered the office with a confidant spring to his step, her Knight of Honor was wearing a pair of black slacks and a tucked in white dress shirt that was offset by the heavy black combat boots that clicked on the tiled floor. Stopping before Luluka he threw his right hand to his heart and bowed lightly.

"Hail Your Highness, I wish to discuss some of which I discovered from Argyle," Luluka resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she huffed and hopped out of her seat, walking forward she gave the knight a hug and a light smack on his head earning herself a chagrined smile from the bluenette.

"Jerry for the crying out loud how many times have I told you to ditch the formalities? Anyway whats up I take it there is more to your discoveries than military hardware?" Smirking a bit and silently feeling a bit smug being sworn to such an endearing Princess he quickly nodded while pulling a file off the desk and handing it to the violet eyed young woman.

"Just about every day Your Highness, and yes I did, as you no doubt will recall when you first recruited me upon my transfer to Area Eleven you gave me a blanket order to keep an eye out for odd medical equipment purchases. MRI machines, genetic analyzers, cryostorage units, so on and so forth." Perking up and now very interested Luluka nodded quickly while urging him to continue with a wave of her hand, "Well, it would appear that Prince Clovis has been using third parties to purchase high end machines typically reserved for gene sequencing and computers that the Camelot corps would consider excessively over powered. Argyle being the paranoid man he was had the proxy followed and noted the facilities location, he had it saved on his phone along with all the warehouses we're currently plundering."

Luluka's grin took over her entire face as she charged Jeremiah and jumped into the startled knights arms, grunting he grabbed onto her as she wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed his forhead before letting him go dropping to her feet. Turning away from the blushing knight she began cackling to herself as she walked towards Sayoko,

"Hehehe...Jerry, you and Sayoko get the rest of the week off, when you're not playing your part at the palace I want you two to go enjoy yourselves, as soon as you're done I want you to look through our knights dossiers and find those that are best suited for infiltrating a hardened facility and exfiltrating with precious cargo, I gotta go walk this off I'll talk to you later, and good work my knight!" With that she walked through the door slamming it behind her, the bemused ninja turned to her slightly confused boyfriend as she quipped,

"I do believe the Mistress is pleased with out efforts, do you not?" Snorting while slicking his hair back the tall man offered his arm to Sayoko while jerking his head towards the door he'd exited,

"Indeed, well then lets drag Argyle to the river and put a round in his head, we'll catch up on our sleep and tonight I'll take you out to that Italian restaurant you like and we'll even hit the ballet if we can get tickets," smirking Sayoko took his arm and let him lead her onward,

"My hero."

Luluka tried to keep the manic grin off her face and succeeded to a certain extent, but she couldn't keep the mad spark from her violet eyes, it'd taken six years, a massive amount of resources, and an innumerable amount of dead Brits, but she'd finally gotten a lead on what she needed most to succeed in her plans. Entering the lift she took a deep breath as she waited for the door to close, after hitting the up button and felt the jolt of the lifts movement she finally let her mirth boil over,

"HAHAHAHA! I found you! I finally found you witch! Now...now it's time for the games to truly begin..."

 _ **August 22, 2016**_

Foundation Day was quite possibly the closest thing to a 'Holy Day' that the Holy Empire of Britannia ever actually endorsed, the part of Luluka that was truly proud of her heritage before her father had mucked everything up held it in the some reverence as her countrymen and for good reason. The Empire of France led by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had somehow managed to assassinate Admiral Nelson shortly before the decisive Battle of Trafalgar leaving an inexperienced second in charge leading to Great Britain's greatest and most costly navel defeat in her grand history. The bloody French invaded the Empire Proper less than a week after the defeat of her Majesties Navy...than...than everything went to hell.

The invasion force split into three prongs, the southern most army invaded Canterbury and the northernmost hit Newcastle, the central force landed just south of Hull, that army marched inland and soon besieged York; the defenders held fast but the French had no issues burning the city to the ground and slaughtering every man woman and child loyal to Queen and Country. Canterbury fell in short order and soon began the march towards London as the French navy fought its way up the River Thames, all that can be said in Britain's favor was that London did not fall quietly into the night; her Royal Majesties surviving naval forces chocked the water of their falling Empires capital with the blood and bloated bodies of the invaders and held the line allowing as many civilians to escape as possible.

It was not enough, it was never enough, soon after the capital fell to the torch and Queen Elizabeth was spirited off to Edinburgh roving parties of Napoleon's grand army burned their way across England, Wales, Scotland, and soon Ireland. Cornered the deposed Queen signed the "Treaty" of Edinburgh, and those that had survived the genocide perpetuated by the French fled to the colonies across the sea, Napoleon feeling himself a benevolent dictator allowed the survivors to flee to languish in their dishonored defeat, he would not live long enough to realize his folly. It is _not_ wise to so insult the British and expect them to accept what had befallen them, hundreds of ships brought the broken remnants of the once grand Empire to the shores of the Americas bellowing songs of vengeance for the honored fallen.

Upon her death bed the Queen declared her long time friend and lover Ricardo Von Britannia her successor and once her funeral was over with the enraged Knight declared himself the First Emperor of Britannia on August 22, 1867 and so began the birth of the greatest Imperium the race of man had ever witnessed.

"Too bad it all culminated in my bastard father," Luluka reflected in a tired tone, truly when she looked at her nations roots she couldn't but help feel an attachment and a vile sense of satisfaction at the conquest and chaos Britannia had sown in the name of vengeance, a dark scream against the world at large. If Charles had actually wanted to avenge the fallen, if he'd honestly wished to retake the mother isles Lelouch and his more feminine incarnation would have followed him to the gates of hell itself for the chance to reclaim what was rightfully theirs. That was not the case though, no her father wanted to "Kill God" and nothing more, what a self serving idiotic desire, as if one arrogant man and his lackeys could possibly take down the collective unconsciousness of mankind. Grinning evilly she slid the heavy helmet over her head and clasped it against her armored suits hermetic seals.

Letting her cape flow behind her she approached her custom Gloucester, the dark violet and silver machine crouched low as its white and black trimmed cape draped over its shoulders covering the hip holstered pistols and wrist mounted slash harkens; grabbing the ascension winch she rode it up to the cockpit and soon strapped herself in. Booting the machine up Luluka grabbed an autorifle and slapped it to the frames rear mag lock, scooping up a large golden lance in the Gloucester's right hand and another rifle in its left she popped her factsphere open scanning the red and orange machine to her left and the white and gold to her right smirking darkly,

"Kali, Suzu, ready to make some noise?" The snickering from her wingmen was all the confirmation she needed, "Operation is go, it's time for the Royal family to be reminded what the net result of their precious Darwinism is..."

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 **If you want to know what the new Zero armor resembles do a google search for "** **The Lady Revan by Zolapaulse" and the first link should be their deviantart page; last time Lelouch was shooting for mocking the aristocracy, Luluka is more than content to just scare the shit out of them.**

 **As an aside I'm trying to put a mild emphasis on the fact that Lulu isn't quite all there, not that Lelouch was the poster child for mental stability or anything so I hope you guys enjoy it.**


	5. For Want of a Bigger Boom

**Went through five edits and I'm still not happy with it, ah well please enjoy and review**

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The Second Pacific War saw the majority of the Japanese Navy put up a fair bit of resistance to the invading fleet, while Britannia for the most part relied on missile cruisers and the rather intimidating Arnold Class Carrier/Battleship hybrids the Japanese focus lay elsewhere. Since their fleet was largely defensive in nature Japan relied on Destroyer and Cruiser weight class vessels along with a handful of Battleships, which were supplemented with air and missile support from land based facilities.

This difference in philosophies cost Britannia dearly in the later stages of the war, when Genbu Kururugi ordered an all or nothing resistance the smaller ships of the Japanese fleet eluded the Britannian armadas as they set up for a final decisive battle just inside of Tokyo Bay. Using the geography of the area to their advantage the Japanese fleet created a choke point between the Bōsō and Miura peninsulas relying on mobile anti air and missile assets scattered about the area to force the invading elements to meet them head on.

It worked, with their missiles largely unable to penetrate Japanese airspace and the new Glasgow Knightmare frames offering absolutely no advantages in naval combat the Britannian fleet charged head on into the sea mines and cannons sights of the beleaguered defenders. The battle lasted well over three days as the Japanese navy was slowly but surely pushed back, soon the waters of Tokyo Bay were dyed red with the blood of defender and invader alike and in the end the inevitable occurred. The blockade fell through attrition despite the bravery and resolve of the Japanese sailors, the only evidence remaining of the desperate last gasp of resistance was a macabre man made reef created from the shattered hulls of once proud warships.

This created a logistical headache for the newly established Colonization Authority, with so many wrecks and semi-sunk ghost ships scattered about the future capitals primary shipping lanes coupled with active sonar being limited due to the effect it had on local fishing a decision had to be made. Utilizing the limited budget given by the new Viceroy specific routes were to be cleared and declared safe for shipping until the entire bay could be cleared of wreckage; this was only meant to be a stop gap measure but as always happens with a corrupt bureaucracy the funds were shuffled elsewhere and thus the bandage became the new status quo.

That was how Kaname Ohgi found himself in a Portman II along with nineteen others slowly making his way towards the Britannian fleet anchored in formation for the Foundation Day ceremonies, their approach hidden in the shadows and echoes of dead heroes and invaders alike.

Dating back to when Prince Clovis was first made Viceroy it had become a tradition of sorts for a massive fireworks display to be fired from the grand warships and to have it be broadcast across Area Eleven. Being the sort of man who preferred form over function the decks of the ships were lined with Portman Knightmares and Trident air superiority fighters to sit in waiting as a back drop to the grandiose tableau.

Funny thing about that though with all the frames on parade duty, there was no one on lookout, this was a security concern brought up by one Deputy Viceroy Jeremiah Gottwald in a written report to Prince Clovis for posterity's sake if nothing else, it was promptly ignored in favor of the Prince's wishes. After all, how could _Elevens_ get their hands on anything that could possibly pose a threat to a Britannian battle group at this stage of the game?

Smirking Ohgi and his partner for the mission, the woman who herself had cooked up the incredibly unstable explosive used in the dumpster sized shaped charge slowly drifted up towards the trimaran hulled warship above them. As they reached the ships barnacle encrusted underside the pair of Knightmares gently and slowly scraped a rectangular area clean, this done they pressed the large homemade explosive charge in place. With a flick of a switch the electro-magnets Tamaki had lined the outer lip with activated adhering it to the hull, five more such devices were placed on the Carrier/Battleship while four of the escort cruisers received one each.

Slowly drifting back down several dozen meters Ohgi waved for Inoue to follow him and the pair broke off to prepare a torpedo barrage on one of the cruisers without a special package attached to it. Glancing at his watch he let out a slow sigh,

"Two hours boss...we'll be waiting."

* * *

Colonial Tokyo was a marvel of modern engineering, the layer city was supported on a series of stilted platforms protecting it from tidal waves, earthquakes, and the occasional terrorist attack, all with the added benefit of fast and easy repair if one of the plates ever needed to be purged in the case of an emergency. In a rather ironic twist considering the lack of care given to the subjugated Elevens Britannia was an ecologically conscious country that tried to keep the carbon footprint low, this was accomplished by powering the settlement with massive solar collectors scattered throughout the city proper and on the shore lines of the surrounding rivers. These collectors were the focus of several failed JLF and other unaffiliated freedom fighter attacks seeing as they fit several criteria for your average terrorist;

A.) They were intregal to the colonies infrastructure,

B.) Highly visible high profile target that could not be brushed under the carpet, and,

C.) They were expensive as hell and would be a rather poignant "Fuck You" to the Brits.

It was with this knowledge and history of past actions that had mandated a high security presence covering the facilities at any given time and thus why Luluka had absolutely no intention of even _looking_ at the damn things, much less attacking them. No, her target for this evenings diversion was the power relay and storage facilities that the solar collectors dumped their accumulated energy into during the daytime hours to run the city at night, significantly less flashy yet far more effective in actually causing damage to the city.

The Brits knew it too they just banked on no one figuring out the obvious, which to be fair had been more or less the case for the past seven years, go figure. Tapping a few keys the Princess in Exile smirked as she sent the signal to begin the operation,

"I am but an agent of change, and may chaos follow in my wake," it was probably a good thing no one could hear her maniacal laughter from within the confines of her cockpit, it may have raised uncomfortable questions.

* * *

Constable Henry Jackson led the direct opposite of a charmed life, constantly getting crap assignments while those with less experience were promoted above him, never given his due or even given the chance to prove his worth because of his commoner background, and the most recent slight of being forced to work the switchboard during Foundation Day didn't help his disposition in the slightest. Grumbling about how unfair his life was and how he'd rather be out at the pub with his mates getting pissed waiting for the annual fireworks he was startled into attention by a panicked call on the radio,

"This is Knightpolice Constable Nicholas Angel, I'm currently pinned down by a group of what I can only assume are Elevens, I need immediate backup!" Blinking at the speaker dumbly for a moment Henry scooped up his headset and put it on haphazardly as he quickly replied,

"This is Police Precinct 04 responding to Constable Angel, what is the nature of the attack?" There was a massive explosion on the other end of the conversation and the formally panicking voice switched to angry sarcasm,

"The nature of the attack is I'm pinned down by some fucking Elevens in Glasgow knockoffs while their buddies plant charges all over the Alexandria Boulevard Power station!" There was what sounded like machine gun chatter and then a gasping scream, "Shit! I just lost my frames legs, I need backup now, I re-" the signal cut off there, gulping Henry did the only thing he could and relayed the message to the Viceroy Palace.

"I really hope this doesn't come back to bite me..." he all but moaned.

Chuckling to himself as he killed the comm Suzaku leaned back into his Gloucester's command seat with a smug grin on his face, now all he and the ladies had to do was wait for their prey to walk into the crossfire, he almost felt bad for them, almost, but not quite.

* * *

Viceroy Clovis la Britannia was enjoying being primped for the evenings festivities by several delectable young ladies who doubled as his stylists, basking in the attention he tried his best to ignore the door opening behind him and the dour face of his Deputy Viceroy as he stared at his boss in the mirror. Sighing in exasperation the Prince rolled his eyes before acknowledging the man,

"Yes Jeremiah what is it?" The blue haired Margrave bowed lightly while replying,

"My Lord, there is currently a terrorist attack on one of the Solar Collector power stations, its the hub for the southwest sector of the settlement and if they succeed they'll manage to destroy a quarter of our overall primary power, it would be a temporary annoyance but a costly one." Clovis sighed again while rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands,

"And _why_ are you telling me about this? Why can't the military or Police handle this?" Jeremiah looked uncomfortable for a moment but his face quickly set into resolve as he stated,

"Because Your _Highness_ you ordered all military assets not currently in deployment to be made parade ready for tonight's festivities and have also allowed most of the Knightpolice to take the day off, the only unit available for immediate assistance is your personal guard but I have no authorization to command them without your approval." Gritting his teeth at his subordinates statement Clovis couldn't decide what had him more agitated, Jeremiah's condescending tone or the fact that the bluenette was right, regardless this slight crisis had to be handled quickly and delicately if he was to avoid interrupting the evenings schedule.

"Fine, I'll give you access to my guard, here, now if you don't mind I need to get ready," his frown shifting immediately back into an indulgent smile the Prince turned to his ladies as a disgruntled Margrave accepted the electronic command key fob from Clovis' assistant and prowled out of the room. The secret Knight of Honor to Princess Luluka vi Britannia was met in the hall by his anxious subordinate who for her part threw her boss an understanding smile,

"That went as well as expected didn't it?" Sighing Jeremiah pulled a hand through his hair as the pair of officers marched to the Viceroy Palaces CIC, as the hardened armored door slid aside he handed the key fob over to Villetta Nu,

"I will never speak ill of the Royal Family but I will say I'm not sure what our dear Clovis ever did to prove himself worthy of his current posting, anyway just plug into the House Guards schedule and find the closest unit to the disturbance, I'm going to go fill out the metric tonne of paperwork our boss left on my desk and hope I'm done by tonight." Snorting the mocha skinned woman accepted the electronic key and did as ordered, as she leaned back into the command chair she couldn't help but reflect on Jeremiah's words, what _had_ Clovis ever done too earn this position?

* * *

Naoto was lazily munching on a microwaved cheeseburger that he was fairly certain had never contained anything remotely similar to beef when one of the commandos handpicked for the operation let out an amused bark of laughter, turning to the redhead the man motioned towards his monitor with a grin.

"Dunno how the boss managed it but all twenty-four of the facilities Knightmares just took off in a hurry, we're ready when you are sir," tossing the sandwich of questionable origin aside Naoto scooped up his bullpup rifle and turned to his twelve man team. All were currently kitted out in standard Britannian infantry combat dress including shock plates and full helm gasmasks, the only difference between them and the Empires troops were their European made battle rifles Zero insisted on to further confuse the Britannians after operation forensics team.

"Ok boys you've all memorized the layout, team one is sweep and clean, no one leaves this facility alive other than the target, team two will be coming with me, our objective is to drain the mainframe and plant charges at the predetermined locations, when we bug out I want nothing but a crater left behind. Are there any questions?" One of the soldiers raised a hand and quickly asked,

"What does the target look like specifically sir? Our briefing only described her as a young woman," Naoto grimaced at the question knowing they wouldn't like what they heard, regardless of her nationality no one deserved to go through what she had.

"The target is Caucasian, late teens with yellow eyes and green hair, she has been the unwilling focus of Prince Clovis' live human experimentation so we may need to carry her out if she cannot walk under her own power. Anything else? All right then, lets move it people!" Slapping the release for their trailers back hatch the Black Knights split into two groups, one team making noise at the main entrance while the second blew open the emergency exit and infiltrated from the rear.

Once the heavy security door was breached Naoto led his people through the sterile cramped corridors, even though he couldn't smell anything through his mask he could practically feel the stench of antiseptics exuding from the stark white walls under the harsh fluorescent lighting. Slapping a breaching charge on the only door available he was in motion the second the concussive thump shook the floors, sensing movement in the dust he sprayed the human silhouette with automatic fire without a seconds thought. Moving forward Naoto stared down at the woman he'd shot as she twitched next to her dropped tools, the half Japanese freedom fighter stared into the woman's darkening brown eyes as she bled out waves of crimson and quickly looked away, he'd feel guilt later, now he had a mission to accomplish.

* * *

"They're coming," Kallen stated quickly snapping both Luluka and Suzaku out of their cat naps, smirking darkly Luluka twirled her lance between her Gloucester's fingers as she impatiently tapped her foot against the floor plating; it was was nearly time to make her grand debut to the filthy huddled masses, but first some house cleaning was required.

"Ok there is twenty-four of them, that's eight each," Suzaku interrupted her with a drawled out,

"Piss poor odds for the bad guys sis," Kallen chuckled at that but didn't respond otherwise,

"Right, anyway remember no survivors and try not to hit the Power Station, we don't want anything to interfere with the evenings celebrations now do we?" Smirking Luluka waited for the bulk of the enemy formation to pass before she peeled out of the alley and quickly targeted five of the knightmares. The one unfortunate enough to fall under her gun died almost instantly, the four who were struck with her slash harkens were a bit better off; two simply auto-ejected thanks to the placement of the strikes while the other two fell to their knees as the units lower bodies lost all control over their functions.

As the other units spun to face off against their attacker they were struck from behind by a missile barrage and streams of machine gun fire, the House Guard had no chance to respond before they were cut down like dogs; in the end uncoordinated panic was probably the most flattering way to describe their last stand. Seething with frustration Luluka busied herself with stabbing the ejected cockpit blocks with her spear before spitting out, "This. Was. Pathetic!" Truly it was, two dozen had fallen to three in the span of five minutes if _that_ , while it didn't sate the bloodlust of the victorious trio it would certainly bolster the morale of the subjugated Elevens, that was something at least.

Gritting her teeth and feeling completely unsatisfied Luluka fumed for a few moments before growling out, "Return to base, lets go meet up with our new asset," sure the fight had been a let down but the payoff would make up for that shortcoming, at least that's what the Princess told herself. Mulling over whether this itch for violence was an artefact of her previous life or a new facet to her psyche Luluka shrugged it off for the time being; lifting an emergency egress hatch leading down to the settlements foundations the trio quickly disappeared into the hidden shadows.

* * *

One of the life skills the immortal that called herself C.C. had acquired over her very long and lonely existence was a rather uncanny ability to be frightfully honest with herself even when her heart was silently screaming for some sort of tender lie to get her through the night. So she had no expectations of her situation improving as her cell door was blown off its track and was bodily lifted from her bunk; truthfully she didn't have the power to resist at the moment anyhow considering her captors had been rather zealous in their experimentation's today and her body hadn't had a chance to fully recover yet.

Ignoring the cries for mercy that occasionally screamed over the rattle of automatic gunfire C.C. silently sang one of her favorite sonnets as she was hurried through the smoke filled corridors,

'Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rage at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night'

It was a pleasant lie, to think she'd rage against the prospect of death, some days when she was drunk enough she actually believed it, she was snapped out of her reverie when she felt a cold jab against her neck causing her to sigh in exasperation. As the drugs flowed into her veins the limette silently wondered where she was going to wake up this time, sadly enough it couldn't get any worse then her previous accommodations, a depressing thought really.

C.C. really had no clue how long she'd been out, time rather lost meaning when you were being tortured at all hours for information you couldn't give, well not to Clovis anyway, the idea of that berk having access to a geass was just too hilarious to comprehend and thus she did not. Flexing her fingers lightly she cracked her amber eyes open to take in the scene before her; the immortal found herself in an overstuffed chair sitting in a darkened room that was decorated in a modern fashion. The wall facing her was mostly taken up with a massive television screen that was currently showcasing happy couples celebrating Foundation Day as the drunken revelers danced about the reporter who never lost his plastic smile.

"Disgusting, is it not?" Turning to her side she saw a silhouetted figure sitting in a similar chair to here own, while defined features were lost to the shadows it was clear by the speakers voice that they were female and quite young at that. Taking a sip from a fluted glass her mystery host crossed her legs as she gestured towards the television. "None of them acknowledge what was lost for their gain, celebrations, fireworks, drinking, fornicating, all to espouse the Emperors ideals in a palatable format for the masses. Lovely."

C.C. couldn't help but feel intrigued by the woman's statement, doing her best to remain distant and cold she nodded ever so slightly towards the figure,

"That is the prize for the would be conquerors, standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before them while gleefully pretending that it was their own accomplishments that had gotten them so far, is it not?" The figure _giggled_ at that statement while clearly shaking her head in amusement.

"Oh my, how I missed your wit witch, and you're quite right of course, to the victor goes the spoils, but alas for poor Britannia her people decided to celebrate far too soon, while they toast the curtains call the second act is only just ready to begin. Honestly, the conceit they must hold to think that the world will just fold up to their demands simply because they think it's their right; well my dear Cecelia tonight will prove that they are not nearly as victorious as they wish to think they are." C.C. _felt_ her heart seize as this mystery woman casually threw her true name out to the winds, it was only due to centuries of practice that her face remained composed.

"How dreadfully cynical," she deadpanned as her mind was scrambling for a hold to take purchase upon at this point, luckily for her she managed to garner a response giving the off set immortal time to think,

"What you define as cynical I choose to view as acutely aware of the reality of our situation, Emperor Charles and those that follow in his wake offer only death and stagnation, and while my plans will lead many to a bloody end the innocent majority will be largely spared this time around. I digress, the show is about to begin, and I wouldn't want you to miss anything my dear witch, observe." Turning back to the glowing screen as the volume increased C.C. watched the reporter with the plastic smile gush over the fireworks display about to be fired off by the Imperial fleet, his overly chipper voice had the immortal gritting her teeth in annoyance.

"That's right June this years display was planned out by our very own Prince Clovis, it's rumored that he tasked the engineers in charge to choreograph it with our National Anthem, OH! It looks like the show is about to begin so lets switch to our cameras in the sky, doesn't the fleet just look marvelous in formation like that? All right then lets see what our glorious Empire has cooked up for us!" The mystery woman snorted at that,

"Subtle, very subtle, now observe, my man on the inside can only hack the signal for about thirty seconds but this should be good," true to her word the signal warbled with static for a moment as a large silver emblem on a black background took up the screen. It looked like a caricatured bird in flight with a sword thrust through it but C.C. knew better, eyes widening she shot her gaze to her host who only laughed at her discomfort. A moment later an armored figure walked on screen, the outfit was a mix of sashes, robes, and overlapping plates that seemed to perfectly blend both eastern and western aesthetics, the figures helmeted head turned to the screen and oddly enough C.C. could feel the intensity of the figures gaze through the darkened eye slit

"Good evening Britannia, allow me to introduce myself, I am Zero! Now I know what you must be thinking, who is this joker, what is going on, is this some sort of jape? Since my time is short allow me to alleviate your minds of any questions. _I_ am the leader of an organization known as the Black Knights, while you, the ignorant huddled masses may not know of us yet I'm quite sure your leadership is in an outright panic at the moment. I simply wanted to wish you all a _Happy_ Foundation Day, after all I'm a living reminder that the Emperor was right, all men are not created equal, but alas when you kill all the angels of peace and mercy what is left but the demons of war and revolution? Our time has grown short so I bid you all goodbye, and please enjoy the gifts I left for your _glorious_ Navy. ...Nil Desperandum, for the end is fast approaching."

With that the screen fluctuated again and the image was replaced with the live feed watching the fireworks display as reporters panicked in the background, C.C. then noticed a disturbance in the water, it didn't take long for her to find out what it was. Five cruisers on the outer edge of the fleet were struck by a veritable cloud of torpedoes, the report from the strikes showed they were low power models probably fired from knightmares but the shear number of them peppering the mighty warships caused a few to start listing to the side.

As emergency services aircraft began swarming the damaged vessels the massive Arnold Class Carrier/Battleship was suddenly wracked by a series of much larger explosions that ate through the hull and burned through countless decks to burst onto the cracking flightdeck. C.C. gaped as the mighty flagships magazine and fuel storage was caught alight and suddenly there was nothing left of the Britannian fleet other then a massive fireball that sent a tidal wave of burning debris and drowned bodies out in its wake. At this point the signal cut off declaring there was technical difficulties, the screen turned off and the dark room remained silent a few moments as the dimmed lights slowly brightened the strip of floor between the two chairs.

The limette was not surprised to see the armored figure from the television stand from her chair and approach her, she obviously wasn't wearing her helmet but her features were hidden in the shadows of her cowl, chuckling softly she stopped before C.C. as she cocked her head to the side.

"Now that the funs over, you and I need to talk, I'm willing to grant your one true wish in exchange for the Power of Kings, but first we need to hammer out some details, so my dear Cecilia, would you like to form a contract?"

* * *

 **Bah, I need to edit this more but I really wanted it out, enjoy folks and yes yes I'm aware that the fight scene ended quickly but these are the same guys who got their asses handed to them by a few untrained terrorists in canon, it was never going to be an epic fight. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	6. Assembling the Cast

Outwardly Luluka was composed, slightly playful, and almost condescending, in her mind inner Lelouch was cackling maniacally while giving a standing ovation over the way she was running rough shod over the immortal witch seated before her. Oh sure, C.C. had become a close confidant and treasured ally in Lelouch's chess match against the world but initially she'd been a cold, conceited, traitorous little harpy that would spend endless hours trying to drive Lelouch to the edge of madness. As one of her two remaining family members that she actually cared about was fond of saying turnabout is fair play and Luluka saw little reason not to push Cornelia's philosophy to the hilt for her own amusement.

"So witch here is how this is going to play out, you're going to cut all ties with your previous contractors, most notable being the still lingering soul of one Marianne vi Britannia and you'll swear on the one thing you actually give a shit about to never betray my trust." C.C. stared at her for a few moments, her almost feline golden eyes hiding the emotions swirling in that terrifying mind of hers before she huffed and looked away. Almost pouting she crossed her arms across her chest before stating,

"I have no idea how you know about that but it's not negotiable, the contract between a Code Bearer and a Geass user is almost sacred, to betray that-" C.C. was cut off as Luluka slapped her across the face sending the immortal sprawling on the floor. Looking up in shock she scurried back seeing the armored woman's clenched fists and quivering form, spitting out her reply in abject disgust C.C. could only wince as the words struck as strongly as the physical blow had.

"Sacred? SACRED?! You who befriended an orphan, made yourself the center point of his entire existence, granted him a Geass and then abandoned him when you realized he wouldn't have the heart to murder you?! You, the only person in his entire life who had ever showed him any sort of kindness?! I'm sure Mao has grown into a _completely_ stable man thanks to your actions." C.C. actually managed to look a bit sheepish as the accusations were thrown at her but Luluka sincerely doubted she'd feel any long term shame over her actions, C.C. just wasn't wired like that after her centuries of solitude and the Princess knew it.

"What would I be swearing on..." yup, pouting not remorse; pulling a slim rectangle of plastic from the folds of her robes she presented it to the immortal, as she reached for it Luluka pulled it back quickly.

"This my dear Cecilia is a credit card connected directly to a series of shell corporations and with it comes a list of local pizza joints that will cater to your every whim. I even bought up the local Pizza Hut franchises and made them all 24 hour restaurants just for you. If you ever betray my trust to Marianne's ghost, Emperor Charles, his troll of a brother Victavian or any other member of the royal family I'll deactivate the account and shut down all the restaurants. You won't get a pizza anywhere in Area Eleven for a _very_ long time," the limettes eyes had switched from widening in shocked approval to horrified anguish as Luluka spoke, the revolutionary thought it was hilarious.

"Yo-you're a demon," Luluka nodded slowly at this tapping the blue card against her chin while replying in a no nonsense tone,

"I really am, so when I suggest that if you truly betray me with malicious intent I'll shoot you in the head, cast your body in high density concrete and toss your firm arse into the pacific for however many centuries it takes for it to dissolve don't think for a moment that I am fucking around. You're off the map Cecilia and here there be monsters, now tell me will you abandon Marianne and Charles as well as their idiotic plan to kill god? Will you walk side by side with the devil herself to burn the world and reform the ashes into an image she sees fit?" C.C. stared up at her for several moments before standing shakily, approaching the cowled figure she nodded once,

"I accept the terms of your contract...for now," smirking Luluka stepped forward and cupped the reddened cheek she had struck earlier in her gloved hand,

"Very well, My Witch," pulling her cowl back with her free hand C.C.'s eyes widened in surprised recognition as she took in the pale skin, high cheekbones, raven hair and violet eyes of the smirking young woman.

"Yo-you! I was loo-" she was cut off as Luluka pulled the limette towards her and their lips met, C.C. froze in shock but soon groaned in pleasure as the Princess spread her lips with her tongue and invaded the immortals mouth. Soon they found themselves in a mindscape, images flitted about that made no sense to C.C., a man with violet eyes, a cloaked figure in an opera suit and mask, cities burning and millions dying all to protect a girl that she knew had been long dead all culminating in the mans death at sword point.

As the contract was sealed C.C. found herself back before the woman she'd orignally come to Area Eleven for all those years ago, fluttering her eyes open she realized the ravenette had her hands firmly planted on her bum and was still passionatly kissing her. Coming to her senses she broke the embrace while shaking her head in honest confusion, Luluka vi Britannia just stood there smirking with a hand resting on her hip and an eyebrow raising as if assessing her new partner.

"I admit, you're quite the kisser but we'll just keep that between you and me for the time being, although I doubt my girlfriend would really care in so long as she got to see pictures of the act, Milly's kinda brilliant like that. Anyway I'll have some of my minions bring you dinner and a bottle of wine, you're a fan of Rieslings if I recall, eat up and we'll talk more tomorrow to plan the rally." Turning to leave C.C. stood and quickly grabbed the Princess's shoulder,

"Wait where are you going?" Smirking yet again C.C. breathed in sharply as _both_ of Luluka's eyes glowed red with the sparkling symbols of Geass hovering around the pupils,

"Where? Why to prepare for the task of sowing chaos and discord amongst my enemies, that _is_ how the art of escalation works after all. When the first ape bashed open the skull of his neighbor with a rock what happened next? Why the ape fashioned the stone into a knife, then the knife into a spear, the spear into an arrow, so on and so forth," the shark-like smile that spread across Luluka's porcelain visage sent shivers of dread and arousal down C.C.'s body as she dramatically spread her hands to her sides, "with the birth of every tool of war a counter must be created, ergo escalation."

She sighed a bit and seemed to calm slightly as her eyes slowly regained their violet hue, turning back towards the door she began walking away once again as she continued speaking, "I've destroyed the Imperial Third Navel Group, murdered thousands of sailors and soldiers, destroyed a top secret R&D facility and just took one of the keys to killing God away from the Emperor of the worlds most powerful nation. Japan will soon be inundated by the opportunistic Chinese, the selfish E.U., and the panicking Empire, masses of forces accumulating directly where I want them," C.C. grimaced as she tried to absorb all that was said but for the once she had no biting retort. Instead she took a few moments and decided to ask the obvious question,

"So...how exactly is drawing all the worlds powers to your doorstep supposed to benefit you?" Luluka stopped at the door before turning once again, all humor had left the Princess in Exiles face as she calmly stated,

"I'm not gifted with the skills of an engineer, or the brilliance of a scientist, what I do have is an eidetic memory." C.C. blinked rapidly at this non sequitur but failed to respond before Luluka continued, "Couple this with being a megalomaniac genius with a borderline sociopathic personality disorder and you get quite an interesting result. While I had no part in designing it I know every step necessary to create a weapon that can wipe out armies, cities, and even countries in an instant, I have the financial backing and available resources to make hundreds of these weapons, and don't think for a second that I have not created a stockpile already."

Her earlier eerie grin had returned as she cocked her head to the side, "Why do I find my enemies bringing the full brunt of their forces to my doorstep a benefit Cecilia? That's simple, I'm going to kill them all. Every. Last. One. My Cult of Personality will draw the desperate majority to my flag while the worlds militiaries and governments lay in shambles and shame, mark my words Witch, the world will soon tremble at name of Zero." With that, she opened the door and left slamming it behind her, C.C. stood there for a few moments and then laughed, she laughed harder than she had laughed in centuries, she laughed so hard that she fell back into her chair holding her sides as they painfully shuddered.

"Oh god, oh my god! Finally, _FINALLY_ someone worth watching, I haven't been this excited since I met George back in Virginia!"

* * *

 _ **August 23, 2016 A.T.B.**_

Cornelia hadn't been in the best of moods before she'd gone to bed, Euphemia had given her grief once again over dragging the pinkette across the globe to only observe her elder sisters conquests yet be kept out of danger and thus safe and incredibly bored. Her mother had demanded she attend a family dinner with several other of the Emperor's wives and the more useless of his children where the old drunk spent most of her time passive aggressively judging Cornelia on her choice of vocation; and to top it off it was _that_ time of month so she was feeling uncomfortable and moody.

So it was with little wonder that she bit the head off the servant who barged into her quarters insisting she awake and follow him to the Royal Palace for an emergency family meeting. Seriously whatever the emergency was it could bloody well wait until _after_ four in the morning, or at least that's what her sleep addled brain felt as she hurled a rather hefty lamp at the yelping servant while loudly swearing in a rather unprincess like manner. Stumbling about in her nightdress the violet haired royal threw her closet door open and put on a fresh uniform, unable to find her boots she came to the rather startling conclusion she was out of fucks to give so she finished the outfit off with a pair of Chuck Taylors.

Still half asleep the princess was joined by Guilford and Darlton the former of which handed her a steaming cup of coffee, thanking him while silently blessing the bespectacled knight to sainthood she sipped the scalding hot liquid and grimaced in a satisfied manner as it burnt its way down her throat. Coughing lightly she shook her head trying to clear it of cobwebs as she was led down to her limousine. Unsurprisingly Euphemia was already waiting for her sister in the car looking perky and well rested at this ungodly hour which was just patently unfair as far as Cornelia was concerned, sitting beside the only living person that meant anything to her she let her head fall to Euphemia's shoulder while groaning out,

"What's going on little sister?" Euphemia just clucked in an amused manner as she sipped her tea completely unfazed by the moving vehicles sharp turns and quick accelerations,

"I'm not sure, apparently something happened in Japan...err...sorry Area Eleven," Cornelia sat up straight while smoothing out the wrinkles of her uniform shaking her head quickly,

"Don't worry about it I do it all the time, anyway what happened there?" Euphemia shrugged while finishing her drink placing the fine china into the shelf specifically installed for the purpose of making tea on the move; Cornelia thought that was probably one of the most British things to ever come standard in the vehicles used by the Royal Family but really didn't feel it was necessary to point it out at the moment.

"As far as anyone knows a terrorist known only as Zero attacked our forces there, it was broadcast live but most of this side of the world was asleep at the time so few know what actually happened, what little I know was wrangled out of General Darlton and since he and Gilly are sitting up front we're going to have to wait I for more info I suppose." Sighing Cornelia just shook her head and tried to will the bitter coffee in her gut to do its job as fast as possible, twenty minutes later the pair of Royals exited their car and were escorted along with Guilford and Darlton into the Grand Palace.

The warrior princess and her little sister said nothing as they were led to the Emperor's Hall, the massive room already housing dozens if not hundreds of nobles who were all chattering nervously to each other. Both sisters noses crinkled as they walked into the humid stench of overripe body odor covered with copious amounts of perfume, it would seem many of the aristocracy hadn't bothered with hygiene before answering their summons. Scanning the gathered peerage of the Empire with a critical eye Cornelia smirked as she spotted someone who could give her answers, approaching the bemused looking man in question she greeted him with a nod and received a mocking bow in return.

"Princess Cornelia, whatever have I done to earn the attention of someone as important as yourself?" Suppressing the urge to snort she instead rolled her eyes as Euphemia quickly threw out her own greeting,

"Good morning to you Earl Asplund, how are things aside from the lack of sleep?" Turning his perpetually amused gaze to the younger royal his large round glasses slid down his nose slightly as he tilted his head down to meet her eyes,

"Ah Princess Euphemia, how did you like that simulator program Cecile cooked up for you? Oh...forget I said that, Cecile and cooking should never be uttered in the same sentence, it gives me flashbacks." Cornelia was silently regretting approaching the eccentric Earl but she'd already instigated it so might as well see it through, "Anyway I'm doing fine, we've just finalized the Lancelot but I can't for the life of me find a devicer who can handle my creation.

"Well...a devicer who is willing to be a test pilot, I've been trying to get your brother to badger the Emperor into giving me one of the Knights of the Round, his reticence is honestly a bit baffling it's not like he can't replace them. I mean really, how many of those disposable ' _Elites'_ have we gone through in the past decade, ten, twenty? I don't even bother learning their names anymore really." Euphemia looked like she was stuck between shocked and amused so Cornelia stepped in before the rambling noble could continue his monologue,

"Lloyd, do you know why we're all here?" Smiling widely he nodded quickly and the gleam in his eyes immediately unsettled the Princess,

"Oh quite, a terrorist simply known as Zero out in Area Eleven blew up the entirety of the Third Navy on live television, no survivors and she even managed to hijack the signal right before the fireworks to lay claim to her work. A well done presentation all things considered, personally I give the Chinese a week at best before they try to invade the Area, if the Europeans can vote on getting a motion passed which _is_ debatable than they shant be far behind." Both sisters blanched at this revelation but were saved a response when their brother stepped out onto the dias, Prime Minister Schneizel el Britannia observed the gathered leadership a moment before clearing his throat. The microphone on his lapel amplified the sound across the massive chamber gaining everyone's attention immediately,

"Greetings and thank you all for coming so quickly, as some of you may have already heard our Settlement Colony of Tokyo in Area Eleven just suffered from a well planned out terrorist attack. While details are at this time limited due to a lack of response from Viceroy Clovis la Britannia what we do know is a terrorist calling herself 'Zero' had orchestrated an attack on an as of yet unknown research and development facility and successfully destroyed it. She managed to destroy the entire defense force and left no survivors. Not two hours later she hijacked the Foundation Day broadcast of the yearly fireworks display and lay claim to the following act of destroying the entire third fleet."

The room erupted into nervous chatter and enraged yells, Schneizel just stood there to let them get it out of their systems but after two minutes Cornelia had lost her patience,

"ENOUGH!" her bellowed yell sent the entire chamber into silence and caused those closest to her to step back in fear, well everyone but Lloyd and Euphie, "What are we to do about this brother? I assume there is more to the situation than we're being led to believe if we've all been gathered." Schneizel gave her a cool smile as he nodded once,

"Quite astute dear sister, yes, first off we'll watch the broadcast than get into the details," with that a massive screen usually reserved for showing off the Emperor during his speeches lowered from the ceiling and stopped above the empty throne. The lights dimmed and they watched the destruction of the fleet in stunned silence, then they were introduced to the woman simply known as Zero, the first thing she noticed was that the terrorist not only spoke proper English but her tone and accent were of that of the aristocracy.

Glancing about she could tell by the nervous swallowing that others were thinking the same thing she was, this could be the prelude to a coup, Cornelia felt there was something familiar about the figures words but couldn't put her finger on it until the end and then her world froze.

 _"Our time has grown short so I bid you all goodbye, and please enjoy the gifts I left for your glorious Navy. ...Nil Desperandum, for the end is fast approaching."_ Euphemia inhaled sharply as she grabbed her sisters arm with a look of mingling fear and hope earning a raised brow from the ever observant Earl standing beside them, tuning out the chattering aristocrats the tall man focused on the pair beside him. Cornelia filed away what Schneizel was saying for later as her mind raced and she felt herself being drawn back to a better time as something else the figure said clicked,

"Angels...and Demons..."

* * *

 ** _December 24, 2009 A.T.B._**

 _Cornelia pushed the door to the sitting parlour open arms filled with gifts, grunting under the weight of the load the Captain of Empress Marianne's Guard was startled to feel a bit of burden being removed. Making her way to the tree in the center of the room she placed the wrapped packages on the ground and turned to see who her helper was, the glittering violet eyes of her favorite sister besides her precious Euphemia met her gaze as the nine year old grinned up at her._

 _"You looked like you needed a hand sis, so are you still going to try and convince us that Father Christmas is real? I only ask so I can play the part for Euphie and Nunnally's sake," smiling Cornelia leaned down and kissed her little sisters forehead and took a knee to give her a tight hug that was gladly returned._

 _"We can't get anything past you can we my little angel?" Luluka smirked as she cuddled into her big sisters embrace,_

 _"I'm not an angel Nel, I'm not like our sisters I'm like you," pausing she broke the embrace to give her sister a wry smirk,_

 _"Oh? And how's that?" Luluka gave her a peck on the cheek as she began walking back to her rooms,_

 _"The angels of peace have to be protected by the demons of war, our sisters are the angels that we must always protect, but you and me sis? We're the demons, I take too much after mum and so do you even if it isn't by blood. Anyway, Happy Christmas Nel I'll pretend to give credit for your splendid gifts to a creepy fat man who likes to sneak into little girls houses."_

* * *

 _ **Present Day**_

"-And so I'd like a volunteer to take charge of Area Eleven while we figure this mess out, with Clovis being unreachable and Margrave Gottwald having to take charge of everything on his own I need someone I can trust to stabilize the situation." Breaking from her memories Cornelia caught the tail end of Schneizel's speech as something else clicked into place, Gottwald...hadn't that been Lulu's favorite of her mothers guards? Yes...he was the one who helped her sneak away from the etiquette classes to teach her how to do things she felt were more important, like understand how guns worked and how to hotwire a Knightmare simulator to function without access keys. No no none of this could be coincidence, without meaning to she muttered,

"Oh Luluka what have you done my little demon..." Euphemia's grip tightened at that but before she could say anything Cornelia raised her voice interrupting some self important Baron who had been trying to convince her brother to send him to Japan...err...Area...oh fuck it.

"PRIME MINISTER! I volunteer myself and my army group to reinforce the Area and take administrative control until Clovis is deemed ready to retake position, I of course request that I bring Euphemia with me and wish to take my staff ahead of my forces to set up the ground work." Schneizel finally let some emotion show and it was honest relief, smiling he gave her a short bow before replying,

"Thank you sister I'm sure things will remain stable once everyone hears our own Goddess of Victory is taking a personal hand in this situation, and of course I'm fine with all your requests," after this the assembly was dismissed and the group of tired nobles began breaking up and going their own ways. Before Cornelia could leave Lloyd stepped before her grinning still,

"Princess, I was wondering if perhaps I and my assistant could follow you to Area Eleven, it would after all be beneficial to be where the action is with the worlds only Seventh Generation knightmare would it not?" Cornelia's brows furrowed a bit at that as Euphemia asked,

"I thought you couldn't find a pilot for it...err rather a devicer?" Lloyd's smile spread even wider as he leaned in and whispered,

"Ah, but why would I need a devicer when we're going to try and recover the daughter of Marianne the Flash?" Both women paled at his statement but he only chuckled a bit at their reaction, "Oh don't be that way, I remember little Lulu well, she was always hanging around the Ganymede while her mother tested it and I was admittedly taken by her love for her family, it was memorable if for nothing else than its intensity." His smile fell at that as his head cocked to the side, "I can only imagine what the loss of most of those she held dear and the abandonment by everyone else had done to her, it will be rather interesting will it not? Anyway send me the flight schedule so I can be prepared, good day, morning, or whatever you wish to call this dreadful hour."

With that the Earl spun on his heel and jammed his hands in his pockets as he walked away whistling. Euphemia took in a deep breath and let Cornelia lead her back out to their car, as they entered it and headed home the pinkette broke the silence as tears began running down her face,

"Nil Desperandum...that's what Luluka wrote on Nunnally's grave...is...is Zero our missing sister Cornelia?" Sighing and wiping away the stray tear trying to escape her own eye she nodded minutely,

"I think she very well may be little one...don't say a word to anyone else, I kept quiet about the grave marker for a purpose just...let us hope she's willing to listen to us before doing anything rash..."

* * *

 _ **August 23, 2016 A.T.B.**_

Milly woke Luluka with a sharp shake of her shoulder, muttering to herself the ravenette turned to face her blonde lover and barely managed to make out her silhouette with her sleep crusted eyes. Milly smiled sadly down at the petite woman but locked that emotion down, so long as she kept telling herself she wasn't falling in love with the slightly unstable Princess she could force herself to believe it...for now.

"Wassup babe?" Luluka grunted out as she sat up rubbing her eyes, Milly found the sight endearing so she gave her a quick kiss before giving her the good news,

"Just heard from Jeremiah, the entire settlement is in chaos but the Japanese in the ghettos are doing as you ordered and drawing no attention to themselves, so far everything is going according to plan, also he has some rather splendid news for you," yawning and stretching the violet eyed terrorist/royal hopped out of bed while motioning for her to continue. "It would seem that your breadcrumb trail was a success, Cornelia took the bait she and Euphemia are coming here as soon as possible to take control while Clovis is having his nervous breakdown."

The honest happiness in Luluka's smile practically melted her girlfriends heart, no one ever got to see this but her or possibly Suzaku, she wore the persona of an Ice Queen at school and Zero was well...Zero...this...this was the real Lulu. Dragging clothes out of her closet the ravenette turned to her lover and pulled her into a tight hug,

"My family will be home soon hon...soon...soon all those I care about will be safe...then we can change everything," sighing Milly returned the hug as she rested her chin on the smaller woman's head,

"Yes...change everything...," but hopefully not _everything_ she thought as her hug turned slightly more possessive.

* * *

 _ **I had fun with this one, please read and REVIEW!**_


	7. Lets introduce a bit of anarchy

**Everything is going so well! Things are looking up for Lulu and company and oh wait, right this is Code Geass, next chapter I'm so fucking with all of you and ruining Lulu's life for the foreseeable future, until then tata and REVIEW!**

* * *

 _ **Ashford Academy September 3, 2016 A.T.B.**_

As with all major operations in her second life Luluka wanted her data to be analyzed and poured over by the best minds before making any decisions that would have long term repercussions for those she cared about. One avenue to go about this task had been up till this point...difficult, Nina was for all intents and purposes an introverted genius with her head firmly set in the theoretical world. The problem? She played for the home team and had a history of obsessing over unrequited infatuations and the simple fact that she was aware of Luluka's orientation made interacting with the the young scientist...memorable.

Kallen and Suzaku had actually started a betting pool with the rest of the student council (Milly included) on when the mousy genius was going to jump the Princess in Exile; considering her insider knowledge on how far Nina could go if pushed, well...she'd put twenty quid on the Christmas party this coming up year. Approaching said mad genius who was currently tapping away at her computer Luluka coughed lightly getting her attention, inwardly cringing at the flash of lust in the young woman's eyes she quickly cast her Geass not wanting this to get...weird.

"Nina when I tell you the phrase 'It was you who broke my mason plate' you are to do everything I say and remember none of it, when I tell you the phrase 'Mischief Managed' you'll return to normal, understood?" Red rings surrounding her irises the brunette nodded once before stating,

"Of course, Your Majesty," Luluka's brow furrowed at that while she cocked her head to the side, Majesty? not highness? Odd, Lelouch only got that response when he'd ascended the throne but in the end it probably didn't matter, shrugging it off as just a glitch in the system she handed a data disk to Nina while smiling.

"It was you who broke my mason plate, I need you to analyze this data and tell me exactly when and where I need to set these detonations off to prevent a tidal wave, I'll give you to the end of the day to figure it out." Nina nodded once and inserted the disk while turning back to her monitor, Luluka shrugged at the brusque dismissal and thought nothing of it after the fact, best to not ask questions when things were moving on without a hitch.

Once leaving Nina behind Luluka shifted her canary yellow uniform trying to make the fashion disaster more comfortable and failing miserably. Seriously as versatile and comfortable as the Ashford Academy's male uniform ended up being the females was equally as awkward and inconvenient. Silently cursing every man ever Luluka walked to her first class of the day and resigned herself to suffering through the indignity of high school for yet another year.

After coasting though her morning classes Luluka was found in the lunch room staring at the ingredients listing of her meal when her brother and girlfriend sat on either side of her. Not looking up she calmly stated, "The hell is mechanically separated chicken?" Suzaku and Milly exchanged a glance before turning back to the most important woman in their lives who currently looked completely disgusted.

"Err, I'm not really sure Lulu, why do you ask?" Turning to her brother while her brow furrowed Luluka jabbed her sandwich with a perfectly manicured finger while calmly drawling out,

"This thing tastes like frog, I can only take a brief solace in the fact that it's vaguely chickeny enough to confuse the taste buds for a time. It's primary ingredients are mechanically separated chicken and mayonnaise, I automatically put any kind of vaguely salty viscous white substance that I did not see prepared in person in a category of distrust. The frog chicken though? New one," Milly felt her stomach churn a bit at this as she pushed her lunch tray away sighing lightly.

"How do you even know what frog tastes like Lulu?" The Princess paused her cursory pocking as her entire demeanor went rigid, sipping her juice she stood from the table and nodded to her friends before excusing herself quietly not meeting either of their eyes as she hurried away. Completely flummoxed Milly turned to Suzaku who just shook his head slowly,

"It was a week after Nunnally died, we ran out of food and everything we found had long gone to rot, we found a koi pond that had mostly dried out but there were frogs still living at the bottom. We...well we ate them...I know some people like frog legs but...Kami we practically burnt the poor things and we both nearly threw up after every bite. But we didn't...we couldn't...we were so ravenous that even when we got sick we forced it back down with tepid rain water..." Suzaku's gaze unfocused a bit while Milly took on a green hue, she rubbed her temples letting out a long drawn out sigh in the process before groaning out a reply.

"Well...bollocks..." Suzaku nodded once while grabbing his sisters abandoned sandwich taking a large bite out of it in the process, his face pulled into a disgusted grimace and he tossed it back on its tray as he tried not to gag.

"Yup...frog...ugh..."

It took a bit of time since Kallen had a habit of disappearing at random but when she finally cornered her girlfriends best mate she quickly relayed what had been said to the redhead who sighed in exasperation as she ran her hands through her hair. Nodding slowly she put a hand to Milly's shoulder while shaking her head slowly,

"You couldn't have known and it was an honest question, Lulu, she...she went through a hell of a lot during the war, losing her sister, the near starvation, the attempted rape...it...we're the only ones who can really grasp what she and Suzaku went through and they appreciate it, they do. We just have to understand that they're both...off because of it all, I can only imagine how off kilter I'd be if Naoto died and with her dad issues, well..." Milly took in a deep breath while leaning against the wall crossing her arms and legs in the process,

"I...you're right I just don't know what to do and it kills me that I can't be her rock in situations like this...I just feel so helpless..." Kallen stared at the blonde a few moments before breaking out into a wide grin while letting out a sharp bark of laughter,

"Oh dear, it would seem our dear President is more than a bit smitten with her second in command," Milly put on an unconcerned aire while shrugging lightly trying not to make a big deal out of the statement,

"She's my girlfriend, of course I-" Kallen reached over and pressed a finger to her friends lips and their blue eyes met for a moment before Kallen broke the gaze and turned to leave,

"Does she know you love her?" Milly never replied but for Kallen that was answer enough, she'd save this for later now wasn't the time but she would remember, both women were just too damn stubborn for their own good and it was up to their friends to look out for their best interests. As evening approached the redheaded terrorist found her friend and commander on top of the student council building sprawled out in an unladylike manner as she stared out at the setting sun. Luluka turned her violet eyes towards Kallen a moment before lifting her hand in a casual greeting,

"Heyya Kali, what's up?" Sighing the buxom teen fell next to the ravenette and sat cross legged as she stared out towards the horizon,

"You worried your girl you know, please refrain from doing so in the future Milly is supposed to be an unflappable pervert, awkwardly introspective is not an attitude that fits her well," Luluka snorted at that while rolling her eyes as she scooted over to Kallen to use her lap as a pillow.

"I know, just...bad memories, it's best to just walk it off instead of facing them with people I care about around...the urge to shoot everything in sight really doesn't befit proper company you know?" Kallen 'mmhmm'd' as she began stroking Luluka's cheek and the pair remained in companionable silence for a time but soon the ravenette made an exasperated noise and sat up while stretching.

Standing she helped Kallen up as she jerked her head towards the door, "Come on, lets go get ready for the rally, we'll deal with my emotional issues after we commit a few more acts terrorism," Kallen snorted at this as she wrapped an arm around her best mates waist.

"All right fearless leader, whatever you say," as they walked down the stairs Nina intercepted the pair while handing Luluka the disk from earlier, smirking she nodded towards the vacant eyed genius while stating,

"Mischief Managed." Blinking rapidly Nina took in her surroundings with obvious confusion but Luluka was beyond caring, she had the data needed to make tonight markable for the world with limited collateral damage and in turn she had phone calls to make, it was looking to be a long night.

"Boss are we really going to just sacrifice our units like this? I mean I know we stole the things but we're not exactly getting swarmed with replacement marine frames here," Luluka was on the verge of smashing he face into her desk in an attempt to break the unyielding frustration caused by her subordinates constant questioning. Ohgi had been hammering on this point for hours and she just couldn't take this shit much longer; the man just couldn't grasp that when you're trying to make an omelette you have to murder a few thousand people and some materiel was going to be lost in the process.

"Yes Ohgi, for the love of god yes, we only need to give up a dozen of the Portman's for this to work out and I already ordered them out to their positions after they were loaded with the special ordnance, it's too late to do anything about it regardless." Ohgi looked like he was going to argue again when his friend grabbed his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, Naoto turned to meet their leader eyes as he responded for the taller man.

"All right Zero got it, decision is already made, I'm assuming the cost to benefit ratio is within your normal parameters?" Gods be good did she love Naoto, honestly if she weren't as straight as a slinky she'd be madly devoted to the handsome, calm, and intelligent noble who seemed to always know what to say to diffuse a bad situation. Nodding quickly as she twirled her chair away from the pair of men to hide her slight blush she gestured towards the map with her free hand,

"Quite, I won't ruin the surprise for you lot but suffice it to say this is going to be...interesting. I wish I hadn't had to sacrifice so many of our Portmans but it will all make sense later I promise," Naoto nodded at once and after giving Ohgi a jab in the ribs he quickly followed suit. Ordering the pair to get ready for the rally Luluka turned to the door leading into the inner office as it opened revealing the sole occupant of the darkened room.

"So am I going to see what makes you the 'Mistress of Miracles' tonight?" Smirking at C.C. Luluka took to her feet and walked past the immortal while grabbing her helmet from the desk, staring into the visor she turned to meet the Witch's amber eyes while offering her a sardonic grin.

"I'll destroy the world, and recreate it anew, just you watch witch, just you watch."

 _ **Shinjuku Ghetto September 3, 2016 A.T.B.**_

The Shinjuku ghetto was just one of those things that boggled the mind if you let yourself think about it too long; the administrative center for Tokyo under the old Japanese government it once housed more then thirty three thousand people and sported a commercial distract that put Paris to shame. The beautiful spires offset by Mount Fuji in the distance gave the entire district a feeling of grace and prosperity, now though it had all gone to rot; tonight was different though, as Luluka stared out at the tens of thousands gathered in the stands of Jingu stadiums bleachers she couldn't help but grin. The field was lined with dozens of Gloucester's while Suzaku's Zengestu and Kallen's Guren Mk II stood guard over the stage.

Luluka was rather smug about those two machines, she'd discretely invested with the Indian government dumping millions into the R&D of Rakshata's toys and the net result was a pair of seventh gen frames completed a year before they should have been and tonight was to be their unveiling to the world. Turning to the man in charge of the cameras she nodded to Dietard Reed as the blonde journalist grinned at the surrounding crowds, sure he was unstable as hell and betrayed Lelouch at one point but he was useful, and really if he tried that shit again she'd just have Jerry kill him, her knight loved looking after her best interests like that regardless. Looking at the clock on the teleprompter Luluka approached the front of the stage causing the gathered masses to quiet down, silently thanking the powers that be that the stadium was covered and its roof hadn't collapsed in the past six years she spread her arms out wide.

"My people! My JAPAN!" She roared the last word out with all her strength earning a returning shout from the people, smirking Luluka gestured towards the camera as she tightened her armored fingers into a fist, "You have all suffered greatly, and for that you should be grateful!"

* * *

 _ **In Flight to Area Eleven Four Hours out from Honalulu**_

The banging on her cabin door broke Cornelia from her day dreaming and she quickly turned towards the noise as a pink blur shot through the now open egress; the newly arrived Euphemia gripped her hands tightly as she began tugging her elder sister to her feet.

"Come on come on Lulu is on the telly!" Snapping out of her jet lag induced stupor Cornelia followed Euphemia to the lounge and was pointed to the television and she quickly took in the armored visage of of Zero as she was gesturing dramatically to the gathered masses surrounding her. Cornelia gasped when it became apparent that this was live and the woman she could only guess was her little sister was soaking in the adulation of the crowd cheering her name,

"You have all suffered greatly, and for that you should be grateful! Why you will ask? Because you have _all_ proven the bastard Emperor Charles zi Britannia was right, the weak must serve and perish for the strong yet you still live! Six years my friends! Six years you have endured under the oppressive heel of Charles policies and yet you're still here, _we're_ still here and we have not lost our strength or our souls, HAVE WE!?" As she roared the last bit spreading her arms wide the crowd screamed their agreement with the masked figure who dropped her hands to her sides before continuing.

"There are hard truths we must all accept despite them being unpalatable, the old Japan is dead and gone, the relics that support the Japanese Liberation Front are only prolonging the inevitable and extending the pain and suffering we've had to endure to innocent civilians. The Black Knights have never and _will_ never strike civilian targets and look where we are?! We have an army of Knightmares boasting thousands of pilots, we have the financial backing of the worlds greatest mega-corporations and most of all my friends you have _me."_ Gesturing towards herself with both hands Zero laughed lightly as she turned and pointed a gauntleted finger towards the enormous television screens broadcasting two massive fleets that made Cornelia's stomach flip about, still chuckling Zero continued unabated,

"As you can see our little...tussle with Britannia has put the scent of blood in the water and the sharks are coming to claim what is not theirs, both the E.U. and the Chinese Federation have sent full fleets to help "Reestablish Order" in Japan, or as the Britannian's like to call it Area Eleven. I personally find this ridiculous, this is a fight between the Japanese people and the aristocracy of the Holy Britannian Empire, we do not want nor do we need a third party sticking their nose in our affairs in a vain attempt to steal what is rightfully ours!" Extending her hands above her head Zero than bellowed,

"I ASK YOU MY JAPAN! SHALL WE LET THESE CHARLETONS AND THIEVES CLAIM WHAT IS OURS!?" The roar that followed caused the cameras to vibrate, Zero let them scream their outrage for a time before jerking her hands down demanding silence, as the crowd quieted down she lifted her head high before continuing. "Before we reclaim our power, we must take back our pride, these fools think we're desperate and craven enough that we will gladly take what scraps they hand us after they pry _our_ home from one invader and hand it off to another. I say no, no more, we the people will take back our homes and make our own way without trading one master for another, what say you my Japan? Shall we make it a true declaration? Shall we let the world know that we are not to be pushed around, that our spirit is just as alive as it was when the first Knightmare landed on our shores six years ago?"

The crowd went mad, cries of "Zero, Zero, Zero!" filled the air, raising a single finger of her right hand Zero silenced the thousands gathered as she pointed at the screen, "Than my Japan, let me show you the power of your leader, witness the power of Zero and what she gives the Japanese people!" Unseen across the pacific multiple F.L.E.I.J.A warheads detonated in the hands of the Portmans carrying them, their unique yields creating massive void zones throughout the ocean in a perfectly choreographed dance of death. Near simultaneously both the E.U. and Chinese fleets had a dull violet glow thrum below their mighty vessels, as the light faded suddenly the ocean fell in on itself, hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of soldier and sailors fell into a hole carved out of the sea never to be seen again.

The world watched in silent horror as the perfectly balanced strikes left the surface of the ocean slightly choppy and leaving no other indication that thousands had just fallen to their deaths to only be crushed by billions of liters of rushing water eager to fill the void created by one woman's hubris. Resisting the impulse to laugh maniacally Zero turned back to the awed masses as she once again raised her hands high,

"Trust in Zero, and you will be trusting in a bright tomorrow, follow me and we will reclaim our pride, we will retake what is ours and the powers that be will only weep as we march over the bleached bones of our enemies!" Raising her fist high she screamed out,

"VICTORIA ET SALUTEM!" The crowd took to the cry immediately, be it in Latin, Japanese, or English the roars of "VICTORY AND SALVATION!" tore through the airwaves, as the revelers continued to go mad Zero pointed at the camera and you could practically feel her smile as she calmly stated, "It's been a long time coming but the tables are turned now, one of us is going down, and it isn't going to be me Chuck, Nil Desperandum."

Shakily grasping the chair before her Cornelia blindly felt about to take her seat unable to turn her eyes away from the cheering crowds, finally sitting down she took the offered glass of liquor and downed half of it in one pull. Glancing up her eyes widened slightly as she saw Euphemia drink straight from the bottle of bourbon before falling into the seat next to her, Guilford and Darlton both shared haunted looks as they kept throwing glances at the now muted television and for the life of her Cornelia couldn't blame them. Everything had just changed and their only hope of resolving this peacefully was if the serial killer who declared war on the world was in fact her estranged sister, hiding her growing smile behind her glass Cornelia whispered quietly so none would hear her,

"Well played my little demon, I'm so proud of you..."


	8. And It All Came Tumbling Down

_**IMPORTANT**_ _ **-FF Dot Net crashed when I was nearly finished with this chapter and I lost 2k words in the process, if this seems rushed its because I was pissed off and I didn't want to retype everything. Don't like it, don't read it I'm honestly of half a mind to abandon this fic after that fiasco...Sigh...anyway, as always please review, bye.**_

 _ **EDIT- Right, if you're wondering what outfit Milly forced Lulu into wearing it's Hatsune Miku's**_

 ** _Second Edit-Don't worry not abandoning the fic was just...very angry when I posted this chapter_**

* * *

 _ **Later That Night**_

Luluka sat in silence absorbing the raw data being displayed on the various monitors before her as she awaited the inevitable blowup with her subordinates; more than likely the majority assumed she'd just declared a three front war which was as far from the truth as it could be. In all honesty she should have just explained it all to them from the get go but the looks on their faces when those ships fell into that void in the ocean... well their vacent shock would be keeping her warm at night for some time. As if summoned by her thoughts the door slammed open as the lights turned on automatically,

"ZERO!" Ohgi bellowed as he stomped forward quickly followed by Naoto who was urging calm; rolling her eyes Luluka silently wondered why she kept the traitorous bastard alive when she had Kallen's brother at her beck and call. Before she could really mull over the idea of killing the Japanese man in a preferably memorable and painful manner Naomi spoke up dragging her from her thoughts,

"Zero, what was that all about, what did you do to those ships? Can I get one?" That earned a smile from the Princess in Exile, Tamaki would probably be asking the same thing and she was almost inclined to acquiesce if for nothing else but the entertainment value. Before that rather...dangerous route was selected a shout roared over the dozen voices vying for Luluka's attention, the killers glint in Suzaku's jade eyes was enough to quiet the lot of them down rather quickly.

"SHUT IT! Right...Zero...if you could explain why we just blew up two navies while taunting all three of the worlds super powers I'd gladly like to hear it." Luluka's giggle must have unsettled a few of the knights as she tilted her helmed head to the side because they began to shift about nervously. Shrugging she rose from her rather comfy chair to stride over to a global map and quickly tapped the Japanese Isles,

"Tell me, why is Japan important to anyone?" There was silence for a few moments when Kallen spoke up,

"Strategically speaking we're next door to the Chinese Federation which means Britannia can hold a major military presence within striking distance at any time, us blowing up their fleet kinda nixed that for the time being though." Luluka nodded once while rubbing her chin tossing a felt-tipped marker in her free hand as she turned back to the gathering,

"That is correct, but resource wise?"

"Well," Tamaki of all people quickly piped in, "Sakuradite obviously, it's the primary reason the islands were invaded, that and well... the Emperor is a prick," smirking Luluka turned back to the map popping the cap off the marker. Slowly she began outlining an area just north of the Caspian sea between the borders of China controlled Kazakhstan and Europe controlled Russia before turning to face her knights once again.

"Quite, now what you all might not realize is that while I supply the funding for the soup kitchens and free clinics that we sponsor in the ghettos with my gambling the Knights primary finances come from investments in several dozen mega-corporations world wide; amongst them are high profile mineral survey companies." Ohgi snorted at that while rolling his eyes,

"No kidding, Kallen mentioned that you play the markets and always end up making a profit, and that it's almost scary how well you do," Luluka actually took that as a complement from the normally obtrusive man. Although in all reality it was mostly due to Lelouch having a near OCD urge to keep an eye on the market up until around 2017, one of the many reasons why she was putting her plans into motion now actually. Why string things along and play by the script if you weren't going to earn a profit by doing so any longer?

"Quite right, well one of my little money makers found a massive sakuradite deposit here last year," she jabbed her finger at the circled area in emphasis as she continued, "I kept it under wraps and silenced anyone who wanted to expose this for personal gain until I could make proper use of the information."

None of them questioned what was implied in that statement, with Zero it usually meant black bags and bullets to the head, "Regardless this ties into what I've been doing with our little propaganda campaign all the while leaving a bread crumb trail for Britannia to follow to its logical conclusion.

"You see I've been stating over and over again that Emperor Charles was correct and the weak serve the strong while emphasizing that our people are indeed equals to Britannia. Couple this with the fact that I made a point of attacking Britannian forces with conventional weapons while striking the interlopers with WMD's of an unknown origin well... how is the world going to take that once they process it?" They remained silent for a time before Naoto began speaking staring at her with a dawning realization in his clear blue eyes,

"That while we're fighting Britannia we are willing to do so on even terms conventionally while on the other hand we're liable to lash out at anyone who tries to intercede with excessive force; in essence we're fighting the empire itself as equals. With the threat of WMD's cutting off any attempts to pretend that they're peacekeepers trying to 'free' our country it has to be looked at more of a civil war... One nation fighting itself but still...one nation" Grinning Luluka clapped her hands while giggling happily,

"Correct! And with the sakuradite trade up in the air during this little conflict what will happen to the E.U. and the Chinese? Keeping in mind they've both just lost their primary Pacific fleets and thus have no possible way of cost effectively invading the isles again even if they were willing to risk getting the 'Royal Flush' once again? What will they do when they're tipped off that a massive untapped sakuradite lode was found right on their border in a consistently contested territory?" As the gravity of the situation hit the Black Knights several of them swore while Naomi approached the map, tapping the marked area her brow furrowed slightly as she carefully asked what was on everyone's minds.

"So what you're telling us is that you've just effectively destroyed the global sakuradite trade for the time being, declared Japan off limits while also kicking off a Eurasian war all while forcing the Brits to acknowledge us as equals if they want peace and stability?" Luluka nodded rapidly as her violet eyes twinkled with malice laced mirth beneath her visor, the bluenette woman facing her did the only thing she could at that moment, and laughed.

* * *

 _ **Two Days After the F.L.E.I.J.A Attack**_

Charles zi Britannia was rubbing his temples in frustration as Marianne sat on the edge of the desk playing with Anya's mobile, he really found it disconcerting when his semi-deceased wife took full control of the pink haired waif and simply chose to ignore the feelings it stirred up. He might be a complete and utter bastard but even he had limits to what he was willing to do, sighing he threw a file across his desk and watched it slide into the small teens bum. Pausing Marianne reached behind her and grabbed the file while she began leafing through its contents,

"What is all this?" Snorting Charles rolled his eyes to the ceiling as he leaned back in his chair,

"Well let me break it down for you, in a period stretching but a few days we had a fleet blown to hell, were taunted by a masked figure who sounded miraculously like our estranged and likely incredibly spiteful daughter, had your connection to C.C. severed and oh lets not forget that 'Zero's' organization uses a caricature of the Geass symbol as their emblem. To cap the entire ordeal off there was...well whatever that attack was the other day, Schneizel is making noise about figuring it out but regardless all of that is what my little hobgoblin of a brother has put together on Zero and from the intel we've already gathered I'm almost positive it's Luluka."

Marianne scowled at this as she spun around folding her legs beneath her and faced Charles as she began spreading the photos and reports out, shaking her head lightly after a few minutes she met her husbands violet gaze and remained silent for a few moments. Eventually she flicked her eyes back down to the papers before replying,

"It would seem our little girl is a bit prone to vengeance...and planning big, most children throw a temper tantrum when they get angry with their parents, at the very most they wreck the family car or get knocked up. Killing thousands, causing billions in damage, taunting the worlds super powers while hiding smugly behind a super weapon? Charles honestly I...I feel so proud right now," the Emperor nodded once as he leaned back in his chair as he began formulating ways to use his errant daughter to further his goals. Truly trying to control her would be like trying to grasp the wind in your hands, Nunnally would have been a useful control but now?

As if reading his thoughts Marianne tossed a few surveillance photos before Charles, "She seems to be close to some of these students, perhaps we could...harness her with them? While I don't like it we could always use your geass on her if she resists, either as a convenient enemy or a Sword for the Empire she's too useful and...destructive to leave to her own devices." Charles nodded slowly at this while stroking his beard, it could work if she was pliable enough but still, something told him that threatening her friends would severely backfire on anyone who attempted it.

Sighing he was about to reply when the door slammed open, Schneizel strolled in looking as cool and collected as always aside from the visible eye tick, for the Prime Minister of Britannia this was about as close to panicked screaming as he'd ever get. Grabbing the remote off the desk he turned to the far wall and clicked the television on without saying a word, seeing what was displayed on the screen well...Charles would forgive the intrusion.

* * *

Luluka shifted about uncomfortably as she fidgeted with the short skirt of the faux-schoolgirl outfit Milly had insisted on her wearing today, inner Lelouch cringed at the indignity of it but she had to admit it was cute, which only caused increased cringing in her head. Turning to the sadistic sexy blonde herself Luluka huffed loudly as she crossed her arms beneath her breasts while tapping her thick soled boot on the concrete, Milly just raised an eyebrow and gave her girlfriend a knowing smile.

"Is something wrong dear?" Rolling her violet eyes Luluka reached up to adjust the loose pigtails her hair had been forced into while replying in a sarcastically sweet tone,

"Of course not Millicent dear I just thought perhaps you'd be a little more understanding of me wanting to see my sisters arrive without blackmailing me into...this... in order for you to come along. I kinda figured that was just something your girlfriend was supposed to do for you is all," Milly felt a warm flush pass through her as the Princess unintentionally pouted; for the dominant pervert it was an act of will to resist dragging the ravenette off to a more secluded location. Coughing and shaking her head Milly chose to smirk in response as she hooked an arm around the smaller woman's waist pulling her close while earning her a squeak, too cute.

"Of course that's what girlfriends are suppose to do, but I wouldn't be...me if I didn't take advantage of the situation now would I?" The Lulu she loved bricked off a moment as Zero came to the forefront giving her an icy glare, which almost immediately dissolved as she let out a laugh,

"No, no you wouldn't, anyway you're taller oh amazon goddess so could you tell me if you see the procession? This bloody crowd is a bit on the mental side if you get my meaning," Milly sighed in agreement, the tension in the air was palpable, the Britannian colonists were scared to death of all the recent upheavals and the uncertainty was causing more than a little stress. So as with any group of people feeling powerless they turned to their symbols for hope, and 'The Goddess of Victory' was one such symbol and Prince Clovis knew it, ergo the rather ridiculous parade from the airport to the Viceroy Palace.

Luluka for her part was excited at the prospect; she hadn't seen her sisters in six years and despite being a cold blooded killer who viewed the vast majority of humanity as inconsequential she was still someone who loved fiercely, it was one of the little traits that so drew Milly to the mildly unstable Princess. Standing on the tips of her toes Milly scanned about the heads of the crowds lining the streets and finally spotted a pair of tall violet humanoids in the distance, smiling she quickly turned to Luluka while jerking her head in the direction of the military convoy,

"Here they come hon, would you like a step stool?" Glaring at the blonde Luluka gave her the finger which only made Milly laugh, "Maybe later dear, we're in public right now," huffing the Princess decided to ignore the blondes teasing and instead watched for her sisters approach. A line of Sutherlands and Gloucesters led the procession and it was quickly followed by a tacky open topped limousine that contained her sisters and surprisingly enough her brother Clovis, as the car passed Luluka smiled to herself in satisfaction, her family was home. As more armored vehicles and Knightmares drove by Luluka stretched a bit and grinned up at her girlfriend,

"Well that was exciting, wanna go get something to eat?" Milly took the shorter woman's arm while nodding,

"But of course, we should probably call Suzaku and Kallen you know how those two get when we...whats that noise?" Luluka paused in confusion when she heard the far off whistling as well, her eyes widening in horror as she placed it immediately, her war hardened reflexes caused her to grab Milly and force her to the ground as the first mortars fell into the crowd. The stench that wafted up from the impacts forced Luluka to reevaluate the situation as she pulled the blonde back up,

"Move it chlorine gas we've got to-" whatever she was about to say was lost as dozens of missiles and artillery strikes slammed into the buildings surrounding them but the majority struck the lines of Knightmares protecting Cornelia and Euphemia, trying to resist panicking Luluka grabbed Milly's hand and tried to drag her on when she heard a distinct *Clack-Thump* beneath her feet. Luluka turned fear filled eyes up to Milly as she wrapped her arms around the taller woman, "I'm so sorry," was all she managed as the plate disconnected from it's moorings and they along with hundreds of others fell into the darkness below.

Milly awoke feeling heavy headed, the smell of smoke and copper filled the air and she hurt all over, there was a horrendous pain in her middle and all she wanted to do was go back to sleep, but she wasn't the President of the Student Council for nothing. Her vision and strength could force hundreds of hormonal teens to be bent to her will and she wouldn't let something like this defeat her damnit!

Eyes fluttering open she titled her head back and forth looking about her surroundings and couldn't help but feel that'd she'd fallen into some surreal caricature of hell. Knightmares, wrecked vehicles, and bodies littered the uneven floor, some were moving and groaning, most were not, shakily trying to force herself to sit up she screamed in agony and fell back down with a wet plop. A wracking cough shook her body and she shot a hand up to cover her mouth, pulling it away her eyes widened as she realized it was covered in blood, terrified at what she'd seen she grabbed for the pain in her middle and felt shards of cold wet metal.

Trying not to panic Milly was about to force herself up over the shards when she realized she couldn't feel her legs, coughing again she let her head hit the heard ground and turned to meet a pair of panicking violet orbs as Luluka army crawled towards her.

"Oh baby are you all right I'm sorry I...oh god..." Luluka pulled herself to her knees and hovered over her girlfriend, the look of horror and resignation tore at Milly, she could literally feel her lifes blood pumped from her body in waves and knew her time was short.

"Lulu...I'm dying..." Luluka grabbed her bloodied hands and pulled them close shaking her head in denial,

"No! No I'll...I'll get help, I'll find someone to-" Milly coughed again spraying blood onto Luluka's soot stained face, shakily raising her free hand she pressed a finger to Luluka's lips silencing her, smiling sadly Milly gently shook her head,

"None of that, promise me...promise me that you'll live on...don't give up...your sisters are still out there...please...for me..." As things began to go fuzzy she met Luluka's now violently crimson glowing eyes as she screamed out,

"I COMMAND YOU TO LIVE! YOU CAN'T DIE! I COMMAND YOU TO LIVE!" Milly felt something shift in her but it was weak, unfocused, and far too little much too late, now speaking in almost a whisper that required her girlfriend to lean in to hear she groaned out,

"I lied...at the hotel you know..." Luluka looked at her in confusion as Milly laughed one last time, "I love you, always have, and I always will..." Shuddering and now openly crying Luluka kissed her blood stained lips once before replying,

"I love you too..." Milly snorted and groaned before sighing,

"Liar...but it's such...a...beautiful...li..." With that the most vibrant and passionate woman Lelouch _and_ Luluka had known in their tortured existence ceased to be and suddenly the world seemed to grow that much colder.

The Princess had no idea how long she sat there cradling Milly's broken body, by the time she snapped out of it the blondes blood had turned cold and tacky while the fires surrounding them had burned down. She stared into Milly's eyes and felt fresh tears slide down her cheeks, those vibrantly playful sky blue orbs would never shimmer with mirth or project her love ever again. Lifeless, broken, just like everyone she'd ever cared for before, Millicent Ashford was dead. Folding Milly's hands over her chest and reaching an unsteady hand to her pale face Luluka grasped her lovers eyelids and gently closed them, shakily taking to her feet she surveyed her surroundings.

Death. Destruction. All while the innocent are caught in the crossfire. It didn't matter what she'd done as Lelouch, or what she'd done in this life, it was all the same, everyone she cared about perished, steeling her resolve she marched to one of the collapsed Gloucesters and began tapping at the cockpit lock. It wasn't hard to crack the code and when the hatch popped open and the command chair slid out she paid no heed to the dead pilot and his broken neck as she kicked his corpse free. Seating herself she closed the hatch and brought the war machine to its feet, snatching up a lance she aimed its slash harkens to one of the broken buildings above and reeled herself back up to the surface.

Popping open her factsphere she saw men in JLF uniforms rushing forward being escorted by Burai's as they began encircling a familiar white trailer from a past life, grinning at her good fortune she rushed forward with no warning. Her attack on the group contained no finesse or style, it was just cold systematic slaughter in its purist form and no more than five minutes later they were all dead as her Gloucester lay on its side leaking fluids as it sputtered out of power. Limping slightly she knocked on the armored door with a jaunty "Shave and a hair cut" and after a moment she got a returning "two bits," slowly the door slide aside and she met the wide grin of Lloyd Asplund who true to form completely ignored her blood soaked clothing and dead eyes.

"My my, look what the cat dragged in, and how can I help you Third Princess?" Not even bothering to ask how the amiable sociopath knew who she was she staggered into the armored transport vehicle while tonelessly stating,

"I need to borrow your toy, is the Lancelot ready?" Smiling he tossed her a gold key while swooping ahead of her to open the door to the cramped hanger, what awaited her was a surprise, rather then the white and gold of Suzaku's faithful steed this Lancelot was painted up in imperial blue with silver trim, her mothers colors.

"Of course princess, I did come all this way to have you pilot it didn't I?" Once again shaking her head she hopped into the cockpit and inserted the key, after the boot up process she snatched the VARIS rifle off its rack and forced the damaged hanger door open. Activating the comm system she calmly stated,

"I'll try not to scratch the paint," Lloyd chuckled while drawling out,

"Just be back by midnight, have fun now!" Throwing the throttles forwards she blasted her way out into the battlefield that she correctly surmised was the old Japans final cry for glory, sneering she snapped a few shots off destroying a handful of tanks as she turned her transmitters to full power and opened all channels.

"This is the only surviving daughter of Empress Marianne speaking, I the Exiled Third Princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia Luluka vi Britannia have long hidden myself in the shadows not wishing to be known to the world but you have forced my hand, know this the slaughter of innocents is intolerable and inexcusable and thus must be answered in kind. You have taken someone very important from me and for that... everyone is going to die. Nemo me impune lacessi..."

* * *

 **There was a reason Milly wasn't on the vote...honestly I didn't want to do that but where I'm taking this well...anyway, please review. Oh and considering how proud Lulu is of her Great Britain heritage I thought Scotland's motto fit her current mindset, 'No One Provokes Me With Impunity, seems to fit. Also next chapter starts off with Tohdoh and his ill ease at this last gasp attack on the royal family, suffice it to say he's not proud of what he's doing.**


	9. Hell Hath No Fury

**_No promises but I really do intend to have another chapter out before my normal weekly release schedule mostly because this was shorter then I'd like. Reason being I'm pretty sure the second half of this battle is going to be 4k words on its own and I like breaking chapters up, as a reader and writer I dislike 10k word chapters so its personal bias. Anyway as always please REVIEW!_**

 ** _Edited 8/4/15_**

* * *

Lieutenant Colonel Kyoshiro Tohdoh had always been a man of principal who followed a stringent code of honor to guide his actions and thus felt secure in his moral guild lines while he performed the duties required to liberate Japan from the imperialist Britannians. At first he'd been enthusiastic to follow Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi's edicts of total war but as the occupation dragged on and the resistance lost more ground day by day he began questioning the logic in his choices.

Honestly the hardliner 'Fight to the last man' declaration had lost the Japanese Liberation Front many capable soldiers and officers and as the the years ticked by the attrition rate became more and more obvious. The descent had been slow and thus easily ignored but defeat after defeat ate away at the once proud JSDF survivors and one day their nominal beacon of hope, namely Tohdoh himself, had come to a startling conclusion; the old Japan was gone and it wasn't coming back.

Tohdoh grimaced at that as he maneuvered his new Gekka frame around a blast crater decorated with the blood and bodies of dead Britannians, doing his level best not to think on the dying innocents surrounding him he continued with his thoughts. Zero and the Black Knights had extended invitations to Tohdoh and the Four Holy Swords on multiple occasions but they were sworn to the Prime Minister and felt secure in the knowledge that they were doing their duty and thus refused for some time.

Now? Looking about the destruction he could only shake his head, even if they managed to take the Royal Family hostage there was no way Japans other primary resistance group would back them up after this, they were on their own and considering how popular Zero's "Harm no Civillian" policy was. Well...

"Colonel Tohdoh sir!" Snapping from his thoughts he quickly replied while maneuvering toward a damaged Sutherland spraying it with a quick burst of machine gun fire putting it down for good before it could line up a shot.

"What is it Urabe?" There was a squelch of static before the man replied,

"Colonel we just received intel that one of the Camelot Corps transport vehicles was part of the convoy, it wasn't on one of the plates we dropped and is completely exposed, I'm sure the Prime Minister would love to get his hands on whatever is in that thing." Tohdoh mulled that over a moment, normally he'd ignore such a distraction in favor of the operation at hand but with the grand majority of the JLF's resources dedicated to this final charge every bit could help in the future.

"Very well, send a team of Knightmares and two squads of infantry to capture the vehicle, if capture is impossible destroy it, I am not adverse to asset denial." A yes sir later and Tohdoh was back to his thoughts, the operation had been the Prime Minister's and Colonel Kusakabe's brainchild and he'd admit it had been well thought out. An infiltration team had snuck a group of hackers into the settlements secondary control rooms and initiated a purge of the upper level plates to trap the Royals in an exposed area. At the same time artillery and missile units left over from the Siege of Tokyo six years prior would strike out and destroy most of the cities frames as they performed an honor guard escort.

The normally taciturn man couldn't help rolling his eyes, honestly they could have forgone the missile strike had Clovis not so readily handed them such a tempting kill box, really who in their right mind would pass up such a target? Sadly what none of the JLF involved were made aware of was that the fool had turned the convoy into a parade event and the end result was spilt in red upon the street.

"What the hell?! Where did that Glouc-" Tohdoh glanced at his radio brow rising as another frantic message spat forth,

"How can that thing move like that?! Quick protect the infantry I'll- AHHH!" it went on like this for a few minutes while no one answered his demands for a situation report, soon there was nothing but silence from the team he'd sent to recover the Camelot transport. Sighing he clicked through his channels until he found the one connected directly to his four squadron commanders.

"Asahina, go find out what happened to the team, and be cautious we've already gambled too much on this operation and we cannot afford to lose any more men," the bespectacled man confirmed his orders, not five minutes later a message broadcast itself across all channels. While it was a bit distorted the words were clear,

* _This is the only surviving daughter of Empress Marianne speaking, I the Exiled Third Princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia Luluka vi Britannia have long hidden myself in the shadows not wishing to be known to the world but you have forced my hand; know this the slaughter of innocents is intolerable and inexcusable and thus must be answered in kind. You have taken someone very important from me and for that...everyone is going to die. Nemo me impune lacessi...*_

Tohdoh paused a moment as he honestly did not know how to react to that, his time with the Exiled Princess had been... pleasant for the most part; he'd been impressed with her insistence that she be involved with Suzaku's training and while not physically strong she had been agile and clever. She'd also been viciously protective of her crippled little sister and after a few months that protective streak had extended to Genbu's estranged son Suzaku as well. As war loomed on the horizon the three became a family of sorts, Luluka protecting Nunnally and Suzaku in turn protecting "his" Princess's, the three of them against the world as it were.

Be that as it may there had always been a darkness to the girl, a mad glint in her eyes when she felt someone was taunting her sister and 'brother', her sharp tongue and wit at times both frightening and inspiring. Her protective streak was most impressive, almost as impressive as her hatred for her own homeland; if the JLF had been responsible for her losing someone important enough that she'd announce her survival to her most hated enemy solely to indulge in vengeance...

"This...does not bode well," such an understatement had never been spoken by the man before, or would it hence.

* * *

"I _really_ bloody hate Burais," Luluka stated matter of factly as she swung Lancelot through a barricaded alley while clotheslining a pair of said machines with extended slash harkens. As the now headless frames fell to the ground the Princess picked up one of their dropped rifles and fired a grenade round into each guaranteeing the two kills, tossing the weapon aside she popped her factspheres to scan the area. "Honestly it's like they're made solely to be destroyed in a hilariously pathetic manner, I _know,_ I've been shot out of enough of the ruddy things in my lives...oi..."

Brow furrowing she let out an irritated sigh while muttering to herself, "There's no logic to their unit placements, it's all piecemeal which means I can't guess their movements, annoying..." before she could continue with this line of thought she was charged by three more Burais their rifle fire hitting everything but their target. Growling in frustration she fired her wrist mounted harkens into the upper levels of the building before her; swinging towards the JLF frames she retracted the harkens while firing the pair mounted on Lancelot's waist smashing the cockpit blocks of two of the machines. Landing before the single standing Knightmare Luluka briefly activated the left arm Blaze Luminous shield and used it to cleave the Burai in half while quickly throwing the landspinners in reverse to avoid the inevitable explosion.

Sighing once again as bits of knightmare and concrete bounced of Lancelot's dark blue hide she scanned the area still getting no discernible answers, "Where are you Nel...Euphie...I...I need to find you...it's what Milly wanted..." Fretting over the scanner she eventually got a distress ping, it was weak but close so she snapped the factspheres shut and made for the signal as fast as she could.

* * *

Diethard Reed was in a tizzy, so much was happening at once and while he was a man of many talents the stress of the situation was getting to him, turning to one of his assistants he calmly grabbed her attention as he began speaking,

"Do we have any air assets? Any at all? The long thought dead Third Princess just reappeared in the middle of the grandest clusterfuck this Area has ever experienced and I don't have any visuals," the woman looked a bit pensive but she managed to squeak out an answer before the blonde man could shake it out of her.

"Yes sir but he refuses to get too close to the action, apparently the Elevens have surface to air missiles and he's afraid they'll target him," frowning Diethard thought this over a moment before nodding to himself slowly. Demanding to speak to the man in question he accepted the headset from the relieved woman and soon was in contact with his errant pilot,

"Hello, this is the Director of Hi-TV, your employer, do you like food?" The pilots response was of course one of surprise,

"Err...yeah I supp-" Diethard continued unabated,

"Do you like being able to pay your rent?"

"Ye-yes of course I-"

"Do you like having a bloody pilots license?!" Sounding like he was about to have a panic attack the pilot quickly replied with,

"Yes sir of course I do!" Diethard smiled to himself coldly nodding once again,

"Good, now if you ever want to work in this industry again after tonight you'll shut the fuck up, do what the fuck I tell you to, and you won't say a fucking word otherwise. Are we clear?"

"Ye-yes sir, of course!"

"Excellent," Diethard drawled out the word oozing with contempt as he continued, "Now you get as close as possible and you don't stop recording until the batteries in your cameras are dying and you're flying on fumes, Understood?!" Getting a positive response he tore the headset off and dropped it in his assistants limp hands as he began walking away,

"Whatever audio the blue frames broadcasting I want it captured, there's media gold being spilled out on that battlefield and I won't have it lost because of ineptitude."

* * *

Luciano Bradley, the Knight of Ten sipped his wine casually as he watched the blue and silver knightmare on the television scour a path through a cluster of Glasgow knockoffs and number infantry, the proud machine rightfully slaughtering any fool stupid enough to step in its way. Admiring the carnage being wrought the orange haired man turned to his viewing companions as a cheeky grin graced his lips,

"So, what do you two think of 'Marianne the Flash's' little girl?" Silence was his only response, after a few moments he sighed in boredom and was about to turn around when Nonette Eneagram, the Knight of Nine spoke up,

"Little Lulu is...well I'm not surprised at her prowess to say the least," turning her blue eyed gaze to her long time ' _secret'_ lover and boyfriend Bismarck Waldstein she shrugged slightly in deference. The Knight of One rubbed the bridge of his nose closing his single good eye while shaking his head slowly before adding his own input,

"Princess Luluka was so much like both her parents it was uncanny, oh sure there were always outliers like Cornelia and Schneizal who showed strong attributes of his Majesty but...Luluka, she took fully after both her parents..." Nonette sighed as she slipped into the large mans lap giving him a soft kiss on the cheek before melting into his arms, turning back to Luciano the green haired woman shrugged lightly as she continued for her boyfriend.

"Cornelia use to dot on her almost as much as she did Euphemia but for different reasons, Lulu and Nelly were peas in a pod, both warriors at heart. Really the fact that kids survived the fallout of her mothers assassination, getting exiled, living through a war zone, and staying hidden from the worlds strongest super power all on her own probably only increased that. The simple reality that she's torqued off enough to announce herself in the open after all this time while slaughtering anyone who gets in her way? Well, what do I think Luciano? I'm excited, Nelly's little sister is going to come home soon and I can't _wait_ to bring her under my wing!" While she didn't notice it both male Knights shared a troubled look as they shuddered slightly at the very idea of the eccentric woman gaining an apprentice that she considered an equal; in the years to follow all the Knights of the Round would regret letting Nonette Eneagram sink her claws into the ' _innocent'_ Luluka vi Britannia.

* * *

Luluka was on edge as she entered the vacant vestibule before the City Hall, the lack of dropped plates and missile impacts immediately putting her on edge due to inner Lelouch making the very real observation that if _he_ were trying to make a point he'd have blown the place up with gusto. More than a few innocent 'Elevens' had been railroaded through this buildings laughable justice system to make a point of the indigenous populations inferiority to their Britannian conquerors and it rankled her nerves to see it unblemished.

Lancelot's fingers twitched slightly as his factspheres scanned the empty area, aside from a rather annoying news heli following the blue machine there was nothing of interest present, that is until a group of Knightmares rolled into the Princess's path at full speed. Normally Luluka had better control over her thought processes but with her obvious internal injuries, dead best friend/lover, and adrenaline saturated mind her first reaction to seeing the Gekka Pre-Production model she'd personally _paid_ for set her off in a rather unseemly way.

"What in the monkey-buggering hell are you idiots doing with _that_!?" Ok, no awards for eloquence but still, what the hell? A few moments later the unit in question lifted its oversized left arm as traces of energy began to arc between its three fingers,

"You like it you imperialist sow? This is one of the first units built solely in Japan, witness the power of my people!" Her brow furrowed a bit as she dodged the crude radiant surger arm and casually fired her slash harkens destroying the mans Burai backup, not that they would have actually been any long term help regardless.

"Yes, a Knightmare designed by an Indian, built by an Indian engineer team with machines made in _India_ , really you could use your argument for all this scrap," she stated gesturing towards the destroyed frames surrounding Lancelot. "Honestly I'm just curious what you're doing with a defective prototype and who gave it to you, but that can wait for later," reaching behind his back Lancelot pulled out a Maser Vibration Sword and gripped its hilt in both hands while pointing it forward.

The Gekka pilot, who Luluka belatedly realized was Asahina revved his rotary blade as his frame extended its radiant surger hand before it and charged with a roared,

"Banzai Nippon!" Rolling her eyes Luluka met his charge head on, whatever the Japanese man thought he was facing it probably wasn't a reincarnated revolutionary who had spent the past six years training with the 'White Reaper', 'Red Queen', and the 'Orange Knight'; deftly slapping the chainsaw katana out of the Gekkas single handed grip the Princess clipped the left arm once with her broadsword and then threw her machine in reverse. Honestly she was more amused than not, this idiots paranoia had been the progenitor of Lelouch's Black Knights betrayal and she was admittedly enjoying herself at the moment,

"Well done, can't even beat a sixteen year old girl, what would Tohdoh-Sensei say?" He did as expected being easily baited by the taunt and charged forward again, much to his surprise Lancelot held his ground without moving, as the Gekkas radiant surger arm gripped the Britannian machine by the chest the ace pilot couldn't help but grin,

"You lose Imperialist!" Clicking the button to discharge the blast his Gekka shuddered as it fell to its knees, almost casually Luluka guided Lancelot to remove the offending appendage from his person while taking a few steps back, "Wha-whats happening?!" The bespectacled man stated in obvious fear. Snorting Luluka drawled out with,

"The funny thing about prototypes, sometimes there is a reason they're sent back to the manufacturer, I pierced the G.R.A.A release mechanism when we first crossed swords, all that beautiful potential destruction has to go somewhere, and I know for a fact that units ejection system is faulty. It _was_ one of the many reasons I rejected it, anyway do you have any last words?" As the Gekka began glowing red and bloating out the man could only scream,

"You arrogant bitch!" and then his machine exploded, as radiated bits of metal pinged off the surrounding concrete the Princess could only shake her head in disgust at the glowing crater left behind,

"Adorable," she sighed out in a deadpan tone; noticing the now inactive rotary blade Lancelot picked it up with his left hand and hefted it experimentally, smirking the Princess cooed to herself, "Chainsaw swords are cool, Milly always thought so, said she liked feeling the power in her hands..." Staring at the blade a few more moments she hastily wiped the fresh tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and quickly focused on the task at hand. "Right...things to do and people to kill..."

* * *

 **If you're curious yes Lulu is going to end up meeting Rai at one point or another, need to come up with a good surname for him though...oh and don't worry no matter what happens to our lovely Princess her over protective adoptive brother and best mate will be at her side, not sidelining Suzaku and Kallen ^_^**


	10. Poison

**I. Hate. Writing. Action. Scenes. I think I'm terrible at them and they stall out every story I write just as things get interesting, I prefer witty banter and intrigue and action scenes just... Goddess they take bloody FOREVER to write! *Sigh*...anyway, I hope this is acceptable I know its like...a month late but yeah, action scenes. I'll go over this with a fine tooth comb later so don't bother pointing out glaring grammar errors.**

 **Oh, right, if you're wondering why F.L.E.I.J.A's aren't raining from the sky Lulu lost her mobile when Milly died so yeah, gonna have to wait on that.**

 **Oh if you're confused about the "Red Lamp Inc" thing, Lamperouge is French for either red lamp or red light depending on what translation program you use.**

* * *

The Immortal Code Bearer known as C.C. was in a bit of a predicament, on one hand the deal she'd made with her Contractor had set some pretty specific guidelines on what she could get away with and of the dire consequences she'd face if she broke her word. On the other hand what the unstable Third Princess didn't seem to realize was that C.C. couldn't just 'Turn Off' her connection to a Contractor, all she could really do was mute it but it would always remain. This was made more clear then ever at the moment as her old friend Marianne was figuratively pounding on her psyche with both tiny fists.

Cuddling her Cheese-Kun plushie while resting her head atop his C.C. glared at the telly with frustrated golden eyes, watching Luluka shred her way through the JLF attack was honestly quite a sight and only further reminded her of her semi-deceased friend screaming for her attention. Grimacing as the blue and silver frame dodged a missile that then very nearly took out the news heli tailing the Princess C.C. eventually screamed into her stuffed toy before finally giving in to the voice in her head.

"- _nd I swear if you had something to do with my baby girl being in that Knightmare going all...bloody hell...ME out there I-"_ C.C. rolled her eyes as she interrupted the irate woman,

"Hello Marianne," the ranting came to a full stop which gave C.C. the distinct impression her old friend was blinking rapidly in surprise, the visual caused the normally cold woman to smirk.

" _Hello you traitorous French tart,"_ C.C. resisted the urge to scoff as Marianne began pouting much as her daughter did when that blonde terror of hers got her way, which honestly appeared to be all the time. C.C. paused on that thought reflecting how odd it was that someone with such a dominating presence and iron will as Luluka could be so submissive in the bedroom. Deciding that she'd probably share that with her friend later to if nothing else embarrass both mother and daughter C.C. finally responded with,

" _You're French too do recall,"_ Marianne sniffed indignantly at that before replying,

" _Two generations removed, doesn't count, now what in the HELL is going on with my little girl, I know you know. I've been keeping my eye on her for years and to be blunt you popping up on the radar while abruptly cutting your connection to me at the same time 'Zero' made her presence known is just too damn coincidental."_ That gave C.C. pause, if Marianne and Charles knew where their daughter was and what she'd been up to...

"You knew where Luluka was this entire time?" Marianne laughed loudly and once again C.C. got the distinct impression that her friend was twirling about a bit in amusement,

" _Of course my girls were never stupid Cecilia, it would make sense that she would head to the Ashfords and seek aid. If I were to be honest with you I'm a bit shocked it took her this long to be outed, I mean really she's using my maiden name as cover, never bothered to change her first name and the mega corporation that she runs is named 'Red Lamp Inc' for crying out loud."_

C.C. goggled at that a moment then broke out laughing, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes she glanced back at the telly to see a rather scuffed up black Gloucester with orange trim meet up with the Princess. She didn't catch the slightly warped conversation that the heli was picking up but it was clear the unit was an ally when the blue frame tossed its captured katana to the new arrival who in turn deftly caught it. Focusing back on the task at hand C.C. smiled a bit as she spoke once again,

"I brought that up to her actually, her response was, "Let my bastard sperm donor find me, I look forward to it," as for the name thing well, her reasoning was why waste a good cover when she was just hiding from Clovis. As much as it irked me that I was captured by his men I can't really disagree with her," Marianne 'hmm'd' at that as the two women watched the pair of Britannian frames make their way to the main sortie.

" _So..."_ Marianne began, _"She still blames Charles for what happened to Nunnally and myself?"_ C.C. sighed as she nodded slowly despite her friend not being able to see the motion,

"Yes, but can you blame her Marianne? Really? Her mother gets murdered and her little sister crippled in the heart of the Empires most secure city, she tearfully begged her father to please find her mothers killers or at the very least come visit her sister when he _slapped_ her, stripped her of her inheritance and banished her to a country he knew perfectly well was soon to be invaded. When she gets there she's treated like a leper by everyone but the Prime Ministers son and a handful of his teachers and then she had to survive a war zone that claimed her baby sisters life. Marianne, she was _ten_ when that all happened, it may have been six years ago but she carries the scars both emotional and physical like her own personal cross." C.C. went quiet as Marianne absorbed the longest monologue she'd ever heard from the immortal, after a time she tentatively replied,

" _When you put it that way...we really can't blame her can we? So, what are her plans, her goals?"_ At this C.C. actually laughed startling the younger woman,

"Her goals? Marianne that's the most interesting thing about her, you have an unstable, arguably slightly insane genius with a personal army, WMD's, and a casual disregard for human life declaring war on her homeland _just because she CAN_. I don't think she's thought anything out beyond, "Free Japan and kill my father," so really I have no idea what's going to happen next." There was a pause in their conversation as the Princess crossed blades with an unfamiliar machine painted black and red wielding a massive sword, as they exchanged blows Marianne decided to end their conversation.

"I need to get back to Charles and speak to him about this, one last question Cecilia, did you make a contract with her?" V.V. would have undoubtedly felt the contract form so C.C. felt no need to hide the fact,

"Yes, but as far as I can tell she's only used her Geass once and I have no idea what it is so don't ask, tell Charles I said hi and shoot Victavian in the face for me," Marianne snorted at that as she realigned her consciousness with young Anya who was still perched on Charles's desk. Noticing Schneizel was missing she turned to her husband who met her gaze with a bit of concern, sighing she placed her small hand atop the Emperors while giving him a wan smile.

"I think we may have seriously miscalculated the situation dear."

* * *

Luluka weaved Lancelot through the debris strewn streets with her Knight fast on her heels, his black and orange Gloucester scanning the area with his open factsphere in search of more hostiles. Honestly she'd been quite annoyed with the dutiful bluenette at first for not remaining with her sisters but much to her chagrin he pointed out that Knight of Honor or not Cornelia still outranked him and he had to follow her orders to keep up the facade of his loyalty to the Empire. The fact that the order was something Jeremiah _wanted_ to do was simply icing on the cake. As they approached the area Jeremiah had indicated he'd left her siblings the Princess slowed her frame down and popped her own factspheres as Lancelot peeked around the corner.

"Only ten frames, looks like Cornelia's guards are pinned down but they have the high ground, at this point I'd say they are at a stalemate, what do you think Jerry?" Jeremiah's image appeared in her monitors corner as he took the sight of her in with a bit of trepidation, not that she'd blame the man honestly she was covered in blood and grime and if her growing fatigue and clouding vision were any indication she was beginning to succumb to her injuries. She'd worry about that later though, first avenge Milly, check on her siblings, _then_ die from internal bleeding.

"I believe I may be able to draw most of them off and keep the attention of some of the Gekkas, in the chaos you could then clear a path to your siblings," Luluka nodded at that slowly as she began flicking a few switches in preparation, turning her sunken eyes to her concerned Knight she gave him a mirthless smile,

"Then do so my Knight, and may your blade strike true," Jeremiah spun the rotary katana into a formal salute before nodding once,

"It has been an honor to serve you my Princess, and if it is my fate to fall this day please know that I do so willingly for you," nodding in return she gave him a real, honest, affectionate smile that sadly displayed her bloodied teeth and highlighted the bruising spreading across her face.

"You might be willing to sacrifice your life for me Jerry but I will be quite cross with you if you get yourself killed, I already lost my lover today I don't want to lose the closest thing I've ever had to a dad as well, now go my Knight," Jeremiah stared at her in wide eyed shock before smirking and cutting the connection. Resolve hardened he threw his throttle forward and his Gloucester peeled out of cover leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake; before the JLF forces knew what was happening he was already in their midst with two Burais falling at his feet.

"The hell?!" A female voice cried out as she spun her Gekka around just in time to parry the Britannian Knights strike, exchanging a few more blows Chiba's eyes narrowed as she realized that the only way this unit could have a rotary blade was if..."You bastard what did you do to Asahina?" Firing his slash harkens at Senba as he rushed to her aid Jeremiah calmly replied in an even tone,

"My Princess felled your comrade in honorable combat, but that is neither here nor there as I am your foe for this evening, now show me what you can do!" Tohdoh supressed the desire to moan as he saw two of his subordinates being drawn off by the new arrival opening up his flank. Sighing he glanced back to the Viceroy's last stand when a pair of slash harkens flew above his head slamming into the building beside his handful of remaining Burais; a few moments later a blue and silver Knightmare came out of cover and as it swung by it fired two more harkens in the middle of his formation anchoring themselves into the ground.

The machine moved with an unnatural fluid grace as it reeled itself down and in a flurry of movements all four remaining Burais collapsed as their cockpit blocks went flying, turning its glowing amythest eyes to the two Gekkas both Tohdoh and Urabe were surprised when the Britannian demon pressed its finger tips together and bowed.

"It's been a long time Tohdoh-Sensei, has it not?" Tohdoh for his part could only gape for a few moments as he gathered his wits, after a pause he sighed lightly as he replied on the same open channel,

"Yes it has my student, tell me who have you lost that has pushed you onto the path of vengeance?" The laughter he got in response was dry and humorless, the cough the followed didn't help at all, a moment later a video call opened up and the Colonel had to take a deep breath cover his surprise. The young woman staring at him was not the vibrant girl he'd met six years ago, not with those dead eyes and blood splattered blank face,

"My lover Millicent Ashford, she was an innocent, and a better person then me, if anyone deserved to die it was me...but you took her...you took her and she'll never be there to harass the student council into a crazy theme party for her own amusement again. She won't wake me up with a kiss and a cup of coffee after a late night, she won't ever be in the ghettos volunteering at the soup kitchens trying to bring some semblance of happiness to the Japanese again, she's dead and gone."

She laughed again as her right eye began to twitch, "Milly is dead and I'm not, so I'm going to do the only thing I can for her, honour her memory." With that both sheaths on the Lancelot's back folded down and the Princess drew a pair of broadswords, twirling them lightly her face contorted into a twisted visage of rage and much to Tohdoh's surprise she charged the Gekkas swinging her swords blindly. Urabe managed to be block her strikes but in one smooth movement the Princess dropped her right blade causing the Japanese soldiers guard to shift enough for her to fire both her waist mounted harkens sheering off his units automatic rifle and heavily denting the chest plate.

"Damnit! Hold still!" Urabe realized a moment later how ridiculous that sounded but really this was getting stupid, he was an incredibly accomplished pilot but this was his first sortie in this frame and he was still trying to get the hang of it while this waif seemed to wear her weapon of war as if it was a second skin. To be fair though Lelouch had become rather intimate with the Lancelot's inner workings over his past life and in turn Luluka had been training specifically to take said frame out for the past six years having no desire to deal with any more 'deus ex machinima' moments.

Deciding to take a page from the book of Suzaku Luluka used her free hand to push Lancelot into a handstand and performed a rather ridiculous spin kick mostly because she wanted to see if she could pull it off, as Urabe's now headless Gekka fell back the Princess scooped up her dropped sword and turned back to Tohdoh. Much to her horror she realized too late that the black and red machine had charged after her Knight while Urabe had distracted her,

"Nononono!" She screamed as she stowed one of her swords and unfolded her VARIS rifle taking several pot shots at the three Gekkas ganging up on the beleaguered Gloucester, Jeremiah did his Princess proud as he deflected their blows but eventually his caped frame lost its left arm to Tohdoh's surprise charge. Grunting the blue haired Knight just grinned as he charged Senba's Gekka managing to skewer it through the chest as sustained fire from Chiba and Tohdoh tore his Gloucester apart, as both war machines exploded only one cockpit block flew free from the conflagration. Tohdoh's Gekka was turning back to Urabe's duel when a flash of blue and silver streaked past him tackling Chiba's machine.

Lancelot dug his blade deep into Chiba's cockpit killing the female pilot instantly, kicking the derelict machine away contemptuously the blue war machine walked towards Tohdoh while casually aiming the VARIS rifle over its shoulder firing a single round into the dead Gekka blowing it to pieces. The chat window had remained open the entire time and Tohdoh wilted slightly under the Princess's hate filled glare, "Just couldn't stop with Milly could you, had to take Jerry from me too, my mother, my sister, my lover, my Knight, I'm poison...all there is to it, everyone I love dies..."

Staring at her former teacher Luluka finally lost it, her maniacal laughter echoed across the world as the eavesdropping Hi-Tv heli circled above, eventually she reduced her laughter down to giggles as tears ran down her ash stained face, "Well then..." with that she threw the throttles forward and charged Tohdoh deflecting the massive sword but failing to anticipate the pommel slash harken that sheared a deep furrow across Lancelot's chest, as her right side monitor exploded tearing gouges into her flesh she blind fired all her harkens at once. Tohdoh manage to cleave through both wrist mounted lines but his Gekka's left arm was shorn off at the elbow, unfortunately his Break Blade was meant to be used as a two handed weapon and thus became unwieldy.

Lancelot's left arm pulled above his head for the killing blow but Tohdoh managed to block the strike, at the same moment Luluka activated that arms blaze luminous and the green energy shield deflected the massive sword off to the side as the Princess in Exile jammed her VARIS rifle directly into the Gekkas chest, the explosion that resulted from her pulling the trigger was rather impressive. Tohdoh's Gekka was replaced with a greasy fireball that consumed the VARIS rifle and most of Lancelot's right arm while perforating the frame with shrapnel, staggering backwards Luluka dragged in shuddering breaths as the vibrations shook her to her bones. Coughing again she soon began gagging and threw up blood onto the cockpits floor, "Oh...that can't be good..." Looking about she noticed that Urabe's frame had fled the battlefield and she was actually ok with that, Lelouch owed him from another life so this was his freebie.

Locking onto the cluster of figures that were climbing down from the impromptu barricade Luluka walked the damaged Lancelot over to them before a dozen warning lights went off and all at once she lost power, falling to his knees the frames chin rested against his chest as the light in his eyes died. Sighing Luluka pulled the emergency release and crawled out of the cockpit falling unceremoniously to the pavement below, stumbling about in a stupor not realizing she was leaving a trail of blood behind her the Princess saw her siblings rushing towards her and couldn't help but smile.

"Cornelia...Euphemia...welcome to Japan!" With that her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell limply into her big sisters arms as both Clovis and Euphemia broke down in tears.

As the world took in the heart breaking reunion one man glared at the television as his fingers painfully dug into the flesh of his palms jade eyes bright with rage; turning he quickly walked away and soon found himself being followed by an irate redhead, neither said a word to each other as they entered the suite of rooms that led to the lower levels. Throwing the bedroom door open he glared down at the lime haired girl sprawled out on his sisters bed while growling out,

"Get up, now," raising a single brow she spun around to face him but made no motion to actually stand up,

"And what do you want boy," Suzaku turned to Kallen as he tersely spat out,

"Kali please get this yellow eyed nuisance fitted into Lulu's armor, I'll go prep our frames," Kallen nodded slowly as C.C. squeaked indignantly while the young woman pulled her up,

"What are you going to do?! Why am I being put in armor, the hell is going on?" Suzaku turned away from the door a moment and gave the immortal a cool smile,

"Why you're going to play act a revolutionary to save my sisters arse while Kallen and I go kill my father, do try to keep up dear."

* * *

 **If you lot want more then one update a month I suggest you REVIEW PLEASE, I want to hear opinions folks I do this for fun and if I don't get feedback it kinda kills the muse. Anyway, good day all.**


	11. The Gathering Storm

**I decided to give that whole flashback thing another shot, hope it worked out. NOW, this is short mostly because I lost the drive to keep writing this story for awhile and just kinda forced myself to push it out and get it rolling again. That being said next chapter will be the true turning point for this story but I'm not going to ruin it for you lot, you'll just have to wait...hopefully not for another month...sorry about that by the way. Anywho once again thanks for reading and please review!**

* * *

Emperor Charles zi Britannia had claimed his throne through guile, treachery, and violence. Which, all told, provided firm evidence that he was a formidable man who demanded respect by his very force of presence alone.

That being said, he was currently quelling under the angry glare of a thirteen year old pink haired girl as she paced back and forth before his desk while occasionally throwing a glance at the muted television mounted on the wall. Area Eleven was in turmoil, the Japanese Liberation Front attack had managed to destroy most of Tokyo's emergency services including the hospitals and fire brigade on top of most of the settlements active military force.

As happens in this sort of power vacuum the Black Knights had taken a position of authority donating countless millions worth of medical supplies and aid while their admittedly sizable force of Knightmares began clearing debris and keeping the peace. All through this crisis Zero's broadcasts played on as she passionately beseeched the indigenous population to reach out and aid their conquerors in their time of need to, if to nothing else prove that in the end humanity helped humanity.

Anya/Marianne finally stopped before the desk tiny fists planted firmly on her hips as she glared directly into Charles' eyes, "Victavian is to blame for this situation being put into motion over six years ago Charles, but _that-_ "

She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the TV now replaying images of the blood spattered Third Princess being hauled away from the crippled Lancelot, quickly followed by more of Zero's posturing. "That is all on you, seriously Chuck she was _our_ daughter and took after both of us, did you not think she would oh, I don't know...HOLD A BLOODY FUCKING GRUDGE?!"

Wilting under the fierce glare Charles sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, "Dearest I was infuriated at the time, that she had the audacity to demand an audience and then to break down crying for me to come see Nunnally I...over reacted..." Marianne didn't miss a beat as she _leapt_ onto the desk grabbing the Emperor by his ears jerking his head forward.

"Over reacted, _over reacted?!_ You _HIT_ my baby girl! Which, I notice, you neglected to mention before, as well as having her stripped of her titles and inheritance before _banishing_ her and her crippled sister to a country you intended to INVADE! Luluka was always a bit unstable what the hell did you think was going to happen if you left her in a war zone and she managed to survive it all?!"

That, well, that Charles didn't have an answer to, honestly at that point in his life most of his children had been such embarrassing failures that he figured nothing would come of it, deciding to change the subject he slowly pulled Anya/Marianne's clenched fingers loose and gently took her hands into his.

"As you said before...before Luluka was seen disembarking her knightmare-" that had been the point Marianne had snapped. Seeing her only living daughter stumbling out of her war machine dripping blood on the pavement while gently giggling to herself- "We miscalculated, badly."

Sighing he released the small teens hands as she hopped back off the desk resuming her pacing, "How many contingency plans do you think she has in place?" Pausing mid step Marianne snorted while gesturing towards the TV as more Elevens in heavy armor helped a Britannian child out of a collapsed building.

"Bloody well enough I'd say, her personal army is moving too smoothly for this to be spur of the moment planning, the fact she got caught in the crossfire unaware only proves that she's human and little else. Charles, we need to do something about this and soon, you know as well as I do that the Sword of Akasha hasn't been functioning correctly for weeks. If...if we can't kill God that girl is the only piece of you and me left in the world, she'll be our legacy... the only proof you and I were...us."

Almost as if planned the imagery switched back to Luluka's single combat duel with Tohdoh, Marianne hoped to one day be able to tell her daughter face to face how proud she was of that victory.

Charles for his part sighed as he rubbed his hands down his face, "Be that as it may Cecilia already told you that what she wants more than anything is me dead. All things considered not a bad goal but it doesn't really work in my favor now does it?"

Marianne turned away from the TV smirking slightly, "Oh she wanted one other thing Charles, and I think we can effectively pull her teeth while giving her what she desires. I get my baby girl back and she'll get what is coming to her for her...wonderful audacity."

Curiosity piqued Charles bridged his fingers together while resting his elbows on the desk, "Do tell dear, do tell."

* * *

When her little sister stumbled from the smoking wreck that had at one point been Earl Asplund's pride and joy Cornelia couldn't restrain the feeling of pride she held for the petite raven haired teen. This feeling was immediately overwritten by the horror she felt when the still grinning blood drenched Princess collapsed in her arms. Getting the potentially mortally wounded Royal and her injured Knight onto a VTOL transport amidst the chaos left in the wake of the JLF attack had been easy, finding a facility that could actually aid the heroes of the hour well...that had been problematic.

As they had found out upon reconnecting with the Tokyo Settlements few remaining surviving forces the JLF hadn't kept their targets narrowed down to the military. While largely avoiding the symbolically important yet tactically useless landmarks of the settlement the JLF forces had successfully managed to destroy or at the very least incapacitate most centers used during an emergency response.

It was all told an amazingly heartless and well thought out move, Cornelia was rather miffed she hadn't considered it herself. The net result though was they needed a surgeon and for all intents and purposes Tokyo was suffering from a rather glaring lack of said professionals, and every moment that ticked by her little sister grew closer to drawing her last breath.

Clovis had set up a triage center on the ground floor of the Viceroys Palace for those that couldn't be seen at the few surviving medical facilities in the settlement, more often then not the badly but not _mortally_ injured were simply written off for the time being as they waited for reinforcements from other cities. It was here that Cornelia and Euphemia fretted over the pale shuddering body of their sister as she deliriously moaned to herself.

"So sorry...so sorry...tried my best..." Euphemia dipped a towel in a bowl of cool water and wrung it before she slid the cloth back and forth over Luluka's forehead shushing her quietly.

"Shhhhh..., none of that sister, nothing to be sorry about, please, calm down," fidgeting even more Luluka's brilliant violet eyes snapped open as the arm _not_ wrapped in a splint jutted out and gently grasped Euphemia's delicate hand.

"Euphie..." she began while tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to kill you, it was an accident and I couldn't let you keep killing the Japanese, I thought I could control my power, I had no idea, I'm so sorry, please forgive me..."

Euphemia and Cornelia exchanged concerned glances, it was fairly obvious their sister had gone delirious which only caused further concern.

Leaning down she kissed Luluka's forehead before sitting back, "Luluka you did no such thing, I'm still here, I've never killed anyone and you'd never hurt your family, but if it makes you feel better I forgive you. I'll always forgive you no matter what, you were always my second favorite big sister after all."

She finished this with a smile as Luluka let out a sob, her hand shakily cradled Euphemia's chin as she rasped out, "Angels should never show mercy to demons love..."

With that her eyes rolled back and her hand went limp, catching the falling limb Euphemia gently placed it back at Luluka's side as she turned nervously to her elder sister.

"Cornelia...what...what can we do?" Cornelia sighed as she guided the teenage princess to her feet and pulled her into a tight hug, burying her nose into the young woman's pink hair she inhaled the scent of shampoo, smoke, and blood trying her level best to center herself.

With a rattling sigh the Witch of Britannia shuddered a moment as she whispered out, "We pray little sister...we pray..."

* * *

Kallen's gaze never wavered from the .455 shell casing and the silver chain threaded through the pair of drilled holes in its side as it rolled gently in her open palm; while her Gurren was being airlifted via VTOL alongside Suzaku's white and gold Zangetsu she had been left with something she always disliked, time to reflect on the past. Four years, it had been four years since she found out her brother had been a freedom fighter and more distressingly, he was mortal.

* * *

 _ **Mid August 2012 A.T.B.**_

 _Kallen was doing what she always did on her days free from school, which is to say avoiding the Stadtfeld manor and that WOMAN to the best of her ability, thus she was in the flat her big brother shared with his best mate playing his Sega Saturn trying to do her level best to ignore the world outside of her bubble. That mindset changed permanently when the door slammed open with a massive bang causing her heart to skip a beat as well as spilling her soda on the carpet in the process._

 _A pair of figures stood in the doorway that quickly revealed themselves to be Ohgi, and weirdly enough a blue haired Britannian who were helping an injured Naoto into the modest flat followed by a dark haired girl who held an antique revolver at ready. For reasons she couldn't comprehend the twelve year old had focused on the weapon rather then her injured brother, the violet eyed preteen turned to stare at her a moment before smiling lightly._

 _"My friend Ruben's toy, he has a thing for relics and I wanted to confuse anyone that took a look at the bodies, gunpowder weapons being passe and all that." Kallen could only nod in confusion as the girl turned back to the blue haired man and Ohgi as they cut Naoto's shirt open and poured rubbing alcohol on his chest causing him to groan in pain._

 _The redhead took a step forward but stopped as a small hand landed on her shoulder holding her back,_ _"Let go I need to see what's wrong with my brother!"_

 _Rather then letting go as demanded the girls grip tightened and turned her around, Kallen froze as she stared into the iciest gaze she'd ever seen. Grinning darkly the ravenette glanced over her shoulder back to the three men before meeting her eyes once again._

 _"Your brother trusted the wrong men, his contacts sold him out, my Kni-friend and I happen to have sympathies for the Japanese so we intervened, now let the men do their work, your brother will live, take heart in that."_

 _Turning away from Kallen the girl flipped a latch on the revolver sending four spent casings flying as she deftly caught the two still live rounds, quietly reloading the weapon she turned back as she noticed Kallen leaning down and picking up one of the brass cylinders that had rolled to her feet._

 _Rolling it in her hand Kallen met the girls eyes once again as she quietly asked,_ _"What happened?"_

 _The girl shrugged as she slid the ancient revolver back into a hidden holster at the small of her back, "_ _Britannians showed up to kill your brother, I killed them instead, simple as that."_

 _Kallen gasped as her hand tightened around the spent casing,_ _"Yo-you've killed? To protect an Eleven?"_

 _The raven haired girl smiled disarmingly as she crossed her arms whilst lifting a brow, she stared for several moments as if assessing the redhead before nodding along with her response._

 _"Only those that are prepared to be killed should be allowed to kill after all, and never call your people Elevens, you are all Japanese not a numbers."_

 _Kallen could only nod as she turned back to her brother and his amateur surgery,_ _"Who...who are you?"_

 _Once again raising a brow the girl shrugged before turning back to the spectacle,_ _"Princess in Exile Luluka vi Britannia, nice to make your acquaintance Lady Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld."_

* * *

Kallen was torn from her memories as a squelch of static squawked over her radio and was quickly followed by Suzuka's confidant voice, "Five minutes till we reach the LZ, you ready for this Red?"

Snorting Kallen slipped the chain around her neck and let the spent casing fall between her breasts as she zipped up her combat suit, hitting the transmit button she replied in an equally confidant tone, "Of course I am, they killed Milly and injured our leader, it's time they reap the whirlwind...you ok with this?"

She added the last part quietly hoping her friend had his head in the right place but her worries were proven unfounded as he replied without hesitation, "I'm like my sister Kali, my father's been dead for a long time, our target is just someone I use to know who is responsible for hurting someone dear to me."

Kallen shivered at the cold anger in the normally kind young man's voice silently grateful that his ire wasn't aimed anywhere in her general direction. As the low flying aircraft reached their destination both frames automatically winched themselves down to the ground and reeled in their slash harkens.

Both VTOL craft slowly descended through the sparse clearings amongst the trees and landed gently as their turbine engines settled into a quiet waiting mode. What they were about too do was going to cause enough turbulence that neither teen wanted to risk their escape vehicles crashing, so leaving the craft exposed was just an unfortunate necessity.

In the distance she could see Narita mountain looming in the night sky, it was almost as foreboding as it was beautiful, Gurren turned her blue eyed gaze over to Zangetsu as the white frame hefted a massive block that quickly extended into a long barreled rail gun.

"You sure this'll work Suzu? I mean Lulu gave us the general gist of how these warheads work but if we miscalculated even slightly we could accidently wipe out the city," Suzaku guided Zangestu to aim just off the left side of the mountain and pulled the trigger without responding.

There was a flash of blue and a shower of sparks as a large projectile spat forth from the launcher, the echoing crack of its supersonic passing rocking the entire area. Tossing the spent launcher aside Zangestu pulled two rotary katanas from his back as he turned his green gaze to the Gurren,

"Too late now, you coming?" Sighing Kallen threw her throttle forward and followed Suzaku towards the base of the mountain when a pink glare lit up the night sky. Activating her optic shielding she watched as an expanding magenta sphere kissed the side of the majestic mountain eating away at the ancient stone as if it were air. Not thirty seconds later the sphere collapsed and was quickly followed by a powerful hurricane like gale that rushed to fill the void left in its wake.

Popping her factsphere Kallen let out a low whistle as she stared out the perfect hemisphere that marked the destruction of over a fifth of the mountain.

"Well, that should take care of the hanger and most of the power generators, lets hope that map Lulu had of this place was accurate."

Suzaku grunted in agreement as the pair reached the still glowing edge of the blast, "Can't believe that is the lowest power setting..." Opening his own factsphere Suzaku scanned the burned smooth surface until he spotted the opening he wanted. Waving Kallen on he activated the chemical rocket boosters that flanked the side of his frames cockpit and made a shaky jump into the exposed hallway.

Kallen soon followed and now it was time to hunt his father down, he'd at first planned on simply killing the man but after his rage had cooled down to a simmer he decided it would be best to just take him captive. Luckily for the pair of Black Knights his old man had no where to run and now had no real means of fighting back.

It was honestly a bit of a let down on how easy it was to find the former Prime Minister, they just had to locate the highest concentration of soldiers throwing their lives away in front of the biggest armored door.

It didn't take them long to finish off the resistance and one well placed blast from the Gurren's radiant wave surger had made short work of the door. As the dust settled Kallen focused her spot lamps into what was likely the bases Command Information Center until the lights fell on a disheveled and tired looking man flanked by two officers.

Genbu Kururugi looked up at the two towering machines before letting his head fall in despair, "I...surrender..."

* * *

 **Edited 9/11/2016**


	12. Occam's Razor

A young woman walked down the halls of a commoner apartment complex as her heeled boots echoed down the dirty and time worn expanse; stopping before room Eleven she knocked on the door lazily cocking her hips to the side as she waited. The door was jerked open quickly and her violet gaze locked onto an identical pair of eyes owned by a tall young man sporting a rather aloof demeanor, he took in her aristocratic bearing and refined features in an instant and smirked wryly.

She really didn't blame him, seeing an Imperial princess in a short skirt, halter top and a leather jacket was a rare sight indeed, stepping aside he gestured for her to follow him into the flat. Walking inside she was immediately assailed with the stench of pot and cigarette smoke, body odor, and spilled liquor all punctuated by loud rock music and raucous laughter. Following him to a secluded corner the woman sat next to the man and they both watched the crowd frolic in stoic silence, eventually the raven haired male spoke.

"This was how I saw the world for the longest time, an outsider looking in as everyone I associated with destroyed their bodies and minds, slowly poisoning themselves to numb the pain of living in an unjust world." The woman fixed her gaze on his face, absorbing the details of his refined features caught in profile, turning back to the party she snorted once before replying,

"When you landed in my head six years ago I felt like a kindred spirit had melded into my being, maybe that's why you're here, we were so alike that your presence only made me stronger." Lelouch let out a contemplative 'hmm' as he adjusted his rumpled dress shirt, rolling up his sleeves Luluka allowed a brow to raise as she took in his plethora of tattoos; noticing her interest he let out a short bark of laughter.

"Something I always wanted but was too much of a coward to actually go through with in my old life, maybe we can go through with it now?" Smiling sadly the young princess let her head fall to Lelouch's shoulder cuddling into his side, he in turn threw an arm around her shoulders earning himself a sigh of contentment from the raven haired teen.

"Have we finally gone insane? Is this real? Are we really two seperate people that have been existing in parallel or has my mind finally snapped?" Lelouch plucked a cigarette out of his breast pocket and placed it between his lips, patting his pants for a lighter he was startled as Luluka brought a brass box up to his face flicking it once. As the flame ignited he nodded in thanks as he lit the tube of tobacco, taking in a deep breath he leaned back exhaling a cloud of smoke above them.

"Were we ever sane? I definitely lost it my first time around, and you weren't exactly Miss Stable when I ended up here, and honestly? Yeah, I think our mind finally snapped, we've lost so much that our psyche has simply fractured, so here's to insanity my dear double." As if on queue a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Milly approached the pair, a beer in each hand. Chocking back a sob Luluka accepted the drink and stared at in silence for a moment, eventually Lelouch clacked his bottle against hers while giving her a reassuring smile.

"To Milly," she stated after a moments thought, Lelouch shared her toast as they both threw back their drinks, once finished they tossed the empty bottles before them and remained in companionable silence. Eventually she turned to her male counterpart and let a tentative smile creep across her face,

"I...I'm tired of being alone, I know we've been one for a long time but...I'm lonely. Will...will you stay with me?" Now feeling rather silly she fidgeted a bit but before she could stand to leave Lelouch pulled her closer as he flicked ash from his cigarette,

"You won't be lonely forever, and I'm not sure how we're going to handle the world now that we're more broken then ever, should be...interesting at least. On that note chances are your little declaration has painted a target on our chest. Can you handle the repercussions of Charles knowing where we are My Little Demon?" Luluka stared into the distance as the party goers dissolved and the dirty flat faded away leaving the pair in a white expanse, alone on their love seat.

"I don't know, is there any point in resisting? I mean really, everyone dies...why bother?" Lelouch laughed once as he released her from his one armed hug and stood, turning around he offered his hand and brought the petite woman to her feet.

"Something maybe we should ask our favorite witch? Seven hundred years old and she still brings herself to care, every now and then at least," smiling she wrapped Lelouch in a tight hug that he returned in kind.

"You're a good big brother, even if you're nothing more then a figment of my broken sanity," Lelouch chuckled lightly at that as he patted her back once.

"Who could possibly understand your insanity better than a fragment of your soul? We'll be ok little princess, our sisters have us now and no matter what happens well...it won't be boring now will it? Plus, if push comes to shove we can watch the world burn, there is a reason we put the 'Nero Contingency' together after all." Smirking she nodded as her consciousness faded away,

"I'll bring the marshmallows..."

* * *

 **The issue I'm running into is lack of time, yeah, this is ridiciluslously short but on the other hand, you guys get several pressing questions answered in a poignant manner. Plus proof this story isn't dead, always a good thing, regardless I need some bloody sleep so take care folks, please review even though it's only like...1/4 of a normal chapter, bah... Oh...as for Nero well...for those who also wasted their money on History degrees, who was the Emperor that watched Rome burn?**


	13. The Storm Rumbles

**Not sure if anyone is even still reading this, just posting a bit to see if I should bother dumping any real time into it. Anyway, thanks for taking a look folks.**

* * *

Luluka's head was swimming, and he really didn't know where she was, the last thing he remembered was a sword through his...no...the last thing she remembered was greeting her sisters next to the inert Lancelot. After killing Tohdoh, after being murdered by Suzaku on his own orders.

Oh lovely. An existential crisis, just what they needed. As the fog of drugs bogged down her mind Luluka couldn't figure out if she was Lelouch or if either had ever really existed, or if one was birthed from the other.

Lelouch snickered at the concept of giving birth, he truly did have a twisted sense of humor, probably _why_ he'd been best friends with Milly in both her lives and... Fuck.

"Milly!" Luluka gasped out as she sat up thrashing wildly as a half dozen alarms blared around her. Scrambling to rip the various IVs out of her arms she began rambling to herself as she broke out into tears, blood plattering starkly against the white sheets due to her clumsy gestures.

As nurses rushed into the room Lukuka fought back tooth and nail but...but she felt so tired so weak, as she felt a sharp pain in her neck the princess caught sight of a syringe in the corner of her eye.

"Milly...I'm...I'm so sorry..." with that she passed back into the realm of Morpheus.

* * *

Cornelia ran a shaky hand through her lank greasy hair as she reflected on the fact that sleep deprivation was _not_ something she was fond of, despite how use to it she'd become over the years. Turning to her little sisters injured Knight as he stood vigil over his charge she couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the man.

Despite likely losing his left eye, and having his right arm covered in third degree burns Sir Jeremiah would not be deterred from his duty. Standing silently as he stared through the infirmary window his good hand never strayed from the holstered pistol at his side as he protected his Princess.

He was a credit to Britannia.

"Has she stirred since she was re-sedated?" Her presence hadn't been announced yet the Knight did not even register her entry into the silent room before she spoke, he sighed while turning his bandaged face towards her.

"No, your Highness," turning back to stare at his Princess Jeremiah said nothing for a time, eventually he sighed again and Cornelia feigned not noticing him wiping a tear from the undamaged side of his face. "She loved her, you know that?"

Cornelia remained silent as she approached the tall man, turning to observe the petite teenager restrained to a military hospital bed she honesty had to mull over her own thoughts for a few moments before responding.

"She...she and Millicent always had a bond, even back in Pendragon, I...while I may not approve of same sex relationships, I can respect love. Having her lover die in her arms..."

Jeremiah sniffed and nodded, "I was unable to protect my Princess and the one she held dear because I was following orders...and I do not know what to do about that! It is a discrepancy in my honor I do not know how to amend..." Taking in a shuddering sigh the blue haired man shook his head, "I failed my charge, I violated my oaths, but I followed them as well...I should have died on that battlefield..."

Sighing she patted the man's unhurt shoulder as she shook her head, "You did what you could, feel no shame for what has passed. You did your duty Sir Jeremiah, and you are a credit to the Order of the Knights of Honor, do not question that ever, for you shall be questioning your Princess's integrity in choosing you for that position!"

Somehow the man managed to stand straighter after she stated this, and even managed a passable salute even though the motion pained him. Turning back to the observation window he eventually let a hesitant smile crawl up his lips, "She is going to be so pissed that she was shipped back home on her father's orders."

Cornelia shuddered at that, leaving Japan after she'd only been there for a few, rather frantic hours hadn't sat well with her at all. Unfortunately the situation had become more complicated when the Black Knights had offered up Genbu Kururugi in exchange for clemency to all previous actions as well as giving the Royals access to a high speed jet to get their direly injured medical aid.

So Cornelia had left Clovis to deal with the aftermath working alongside the former Prime Minister's own son and the terrorist Zero while they took the super sonic jet to Pearl Harbor and the secure medical facilities it hosted. After two days and a tentative stabilization Luluka was whisked off to the Motherland along with her sister's and Knight.

That's...that's when the comatose Royal's nightmares started, and the screaming...and the blood. Gripping the bridge of her nose Cornelia could only nod in turn, "That she will...but on that note, she'll be _alive_ to be angry, and I...am ok with that..."

Jeremiah nodded while he let out a short, darkly amused snort, "I for one agree with you..."

* * *

"She looks horrible," at this Marianne huffed and cuffed the Emperor's knee with an annoyed swat of her dainty hand.

"Of course she does! Having a Knightmare _explode_ around you tends to do that! I should know, been through enough test accidents to keep an honest understanding!" Charles grimaced as he did his best not to meet his wife's gaze. To say that the grown woman stuck in the diminutive girl's body had been unhappy at the condition of her newly returned daughter would be an understatement of epic proportions.

Marianne the Flash was _Furious._

 _"_ Do you think she'll accept the offer? If what we think is true, and she really is Zero, would she really be willing to put herself back under the Royal Families constraints?"

Marianne let out a rather terrifying giggle with young Anya's voice as she tilted her head to the side. "Oh Charles, there's something you'll never understand about women. She won't like being constrained, and yes she probably has several cards up her sleeve that could burn the world in vengeance if forced, but...heh... _But_ what daughter of mine could possibly be challenged with retaking the Mother Isles, with retaking _Britain_ , and not wish to succeed, even if for their own ego?"

Charles pondered that a moment before sighing to himself in resignation. This was going to be expensive and he knew it, why, _why_ did all the women in his life require so much...damage control?

And, more importantly, why did he think his rather unstable daughter could pull something like this off?


	14. The Coin Landed On Its Side

**So felt a bit inspired, enjoy and review!**

* * *

Luluka snapped awake in an instant, sitting up she took in the darkened room she found herself in while forcing her panicked breathing to calm down. Stainless steel, art deco, anti-septics, yup, she was in a Britannian hospital, glancing at the cheap plastic bracelet on her right wrist she froze in shock.

'Imperial Hospital of Pendragon-Patient:Third Princess Luluka vi Britannia'

"Fuck fuck fuck FUCK!" She growled out as she slammed her head into her pillow, not good, not good at all. Eyes widening in horror she removed the various tubes form her body and eventually shuffled to the foot of her bed to take a look at her charts before sighing in relief.

"Only been out of it for a couple weeks, not long enough for Nero to activate...ok...now what..." Grimacing as her stomach roiled she made her way to the tiny loo and did her business, all fluid diets were of course not kind to the human body. When she was sure she wouldn't...embarrass herself further she explored her room. The cabinets were all locked as well as the door to the hall, not surprising really. When she opened the curtains she couldn't help but letting out an appreciative gasp of awe.

Pendragon was, for all intents and purposes a beautiful city. The crown jewel of the Duchy of Arizona its sprawling skyline and beautiful parks integrated perfectly showcasing the merging of nature and the touch of mankind in a manner that would make most artists weep at its splendor. Despite what Charles had done, despite the loses, despite...everything...Luluka had to pause and soak in the grandeur of her long forgotten home.

It was a bit unfair, really, Schneizel, the self righteous douche-nozzle that he was, had destroyed this city just as Lelouch had become adjusted to being a resident once again. His brother had literally murdered _thirty million_ people just to spite him, and as Luluka took in the rising suns first beams of light she would finally admit the truth of it.

Schneizel had struck true, the loss of this city had cut deep, the world had been that much bleaker without it.

But, that was then, this was now. Turning to the locked cabinets it took no time to pry the thin sheet metal enclosures loose, the locks there more for privacy then security after all. Taking in the supplies she grinned as she brought a scalpel up to her eyes and began giggling evilly, she had the tools, and she had the talent.

It was a bit of a time consuming process but within a half hour she had shredded her curtains and bed sheets into long strips and had already tied many of them together to braid into a long rope. Honestly, she didn't have the excess time for such a procedure but didn't really have any other options other then waiting for the morning nurse, and that just wouldn't do.

After fashioning her rope she tied it to her beds frame then quickly took stock of her supplies, three scalpels, a bottle of ether, and a shite tonne of bandages and various other suturing and antiseptic supplies. Shoving the entire lot into a make shift sling Luluka tied the loose end of her home made rope around her waist before turning to the window.

In one smooth motion Luluka snatched up the stainless steel doctor's stool and began beating on the glass pane, after a time it shattered and she took one glance out of the open expanse before giggling to herself.

"Yippe ki yay mother fucker." Still holding onto the stool she jumped out of the window and observed the sixty story drop with an uncaring eye as the rope went taut and the hospital bed slammed into the window frame causing her to swing towards the window below her. Swinging the stool before her she let it take the brunt of impact as the glass splintered before her yet it did not shatter much to her annoyance.

Huffing she braced her bare feet against the spider webbed window a moment before kicking off it and slipping the stool beneath her feet, kicking off it a few times she eventually broke the pane loose and began swinging herself as if she were a pendulum. Fishing a scalpel out of her bag she timed it at just the right moment and sliced through her rope to land in the room just outside of the broken glass.

"...Damn..." Really she should be hooting about how awesome she was but Luluka had watched too many cliche action movies with Kallen to let herself fall into that sort of trap. Taking in her surroundings she was pleased to find herself in an unoccupied room, opening the door she glanced about until she was sure the coast was clear. Padding down the hall she approached the nurses station and observed the young man playing a game on his mobile for a few moments before she reached into her makeshift bag.

Taking out a wad of bandages Luluka dumped the entire bottle of ether on the white rags before quickly walking behind the man. After calculating the timing for a moment she jumped on his back as she wrapped her legs around his waist, slamming the chemical soaked bandages to his face in the process.

He didn't stand a chance, caught completely off guard by the professional terrorist he fell within moments, standing up Luluka took a look about the area and sighed in relief, no one had heard the scuffle, thank God. Really she was already aching from her window antics and was fairly certain she'd torn open a few stitches in the process, a full security lock down wouldn't help at all.

Snatching up the mans mobile she quickly sent out a text to a pre-arranged number to reset Nero then tossed it aside. She quickly began stripping the man of his scrubs and trainers while thanking what powers that be that he was a stocky thing, slipping the garments on Luluka snatched up his ID and keys then soon found herself making her way to the lifts.

First task, buy an untraceable phone, get a hold of her brother and Kallen, and get the fuck out of Britannia. Second task, find out exactly what had gone down in her absence. Third task, take a goddamn shower...lifting her arm she sniffed her armpit before nearly gagging, never mind, shower first, overthrowing Britannia second.

As the elevator came to a stop Luluka gently threw the nurses keys up in her hand as she waltzed into the parking garage, rapidly tapping the unlock button until she found the car in question. Sliding into the seat she buckled herself in and started the vehicle, heading towards the exit she used the pre-paid card laying on the dash to exit the garage and couldn't help smirking to herself as she left the lot.

She would finally admit it, her escape had been amazing, brilliant, and awe inspiring, honestly she doubted her friends would even believe it really. Pulling out of the parking lot Luluka was lost in thought as she rolled through the green light, and never even saw the SUV barreling through its own red light as it T-boned her car, sending her careening down the street as her stolen vehicle disintegrated around her.

* * *

Charles rubbed his temples lightly before turning back to Schneizel who looked about as tired as the Emperor felt at the moment, "What do you mean, she 'Nearly Escaped'?"

His son sighed as he shook his head lightly, "I mean she managed to make a rope out of her sheets, jumped out of a window at the sixtieth floor of the hospital, managed to smash her way into an unoccupied room a floor below her and took out a nurse to steal his clothes and keys. The only reason we have her back in custody is because a drunk struck her escape vehicle, otherwise we would never have found her when she went to ground."

Charles took a sip of the scotch his brother had left him before letting out a sigh as he replied, "So...is she going to recover?"

Schneizel looked pleased a moment, a good sign at least, "Yes she is actually quite lucky she took the car she had, outside of upsetting her previous wounds and causing a few of her stitches to tear she'll be mobile within a few days."

Charles nodded at that before gesturing towards the door, "Very well, let me know when she is conscious." The blonde man nodded and left the Emperor to himself, a few moments after the door closed a small girl entered the room from a secret entrance giggling to herself.

"Good god Chuck, did you watch the videos?! Did you see what our little girl did?!" Charles stared at his wife possessing an innocent girl a few moments before chuckling in turn.

"She is so very much your daughter love," Marianne only beamed with pride and happiness at this statement as she spun on her tip toe.

"Isn't she just!" Coming to a stop she eventually rested a hand on her hip before cocking her head to the side to address her husband, "How are things looking with Japan?" Charles sighed at that before downing the rest of his drink, refraining from pouring himself another glass he pushed the empty tumbler aside as he turned to the diminutive teen.

"Your plan is in motion, as soon as we're ready the entire Black Knights thing will look like it had my blessing and Luluka had been acting under my orders. Her...'brother' and her best friend are actually very integral parts to the plot, one having betrayed his own father in favor of a Britannian Princess and the other being a half breed noble loyal only to her...well...we shall see."

Marianne grinned brightly at that, "It's all finally coming together! Soon, soon I'll have my little girl back..."

* * *

Luluka snapped awake in an instant, sitting up she took in the darkened room she found herself in while forcing her panicked breathing to calm down. As she lifted her hands to wipe the sweat from her face she found them bound in padded restraints, looking up she saw a pair of armed guards staring at her stoically behind visored masks.

"Well...bollocks..."

"Quite," the one on the right stated pleasantly, "Sorry your Highness, his Majesties orders and all, after your last, _successful_ escape attempt he felt it best to restrain you, I hope you don't take offense."

Luluka scoffed, "I'd actually be offended if he hadn't taken extra precautions, I'm a professional so I appreciate the effort if nothing else." This caused both guards to let out an amused snort, "So...what happened, last thing I remembered was pulling out of the hospital then...noise..."

The guard on the left spoke up this time, "Drunk driver struck you your Highness, he died of internal injuries so there will be no inquiry." Luluka grimaced at that as she received the message, the man had been executed without trial, no questions asked. It made her a bit sick that she didn't care in the slightest about the man's fate, he'd deserved it after all.

"I see...how long am I to be restrained?" Her question was answered as the door opened and both guards saluted the woman who entered, she sauntered towards the restrained Princess before sitting on the bed beside her.

"Oh don't you just look so...cute tied down like this," with that C.C bent down and kissed the completely perplexed Princess Luluka fully on the lips.

Shaking off her bafflement the Princess turned to the blushing guards, back to the grinning greenette in an OSI uniform and back to the guards.

"What?!" She cried out in unending frustration, her only reply was C.C's laughter.

* * *

 **I really, really love just throwing more and more monkey wrench's into Lelouch's path, what's going on, why is C.C. back with Britannia, what the hell is going on?! Why won't anyone let her watch the Jason Bourne series?! Heh, please review, I hope you enjoyed.**


	15. No One Can Sell BS Like Charles

**Bet you thought this was dead eh? Ok, only really have one thing to add, I gave Milly a little brother for future drama, deal with it.**

 **Oh, two things really, this convoluted revelation is why I put off writing this for so long, it took three hours and a couple ibuprofen to sort it out, such a pain. Why...why must I write 'Crazy-Awesome' Charles, his plans just boggle my mind. Anywho, please REVIEW!**

* * *

C.C was obviously loving this, the normally stoic, and if not stoic, flippant, Mistress of Miracles had completely lost her composure as she screamed "WHAT?!" for the third time at the grinning immortal. Dismissing the guards C.C. crossed her arms smiling lightly as she tilted her head to the side in contemplation letting out a quiet 'hmm' noise before speaking.

"My my princess, normally I would not have expected you to be so...plebeian. What exactly do you want to know?"

Her humor laced tone and 'cat got the cannery' grin were like a bucket of cold water as the raven haired young woman stopped sputtering and lashing against her restraints. Face becoming a perfect mask, eyes slitting, and back straight she nodded once in acknowledgment. Personally, C.C. had to resist the urge to shudder at how much that display of tranquil fury and control turned her on.

"Very well, what are you doing here, have you betrayed me? Why are you in an OSI uniform? Why are _you_ here of all people? What is going to happen to me? What happened to the Black Knights and Japan?" At this her composure broke as she glanced away from the immortal sniffling slightly, "Did...did they manage to find Milly's body?"

At that C.C. dropped the smile and sighed as she walked over to the bed and began to gently remove the padded restraints around the girls wrists, once done she sat next to the princess wrapping her in a hug that the younger woman melted into.

"Last question first, Millicent was posthumously given the noble title of Duchess for protecting an imperial princess with her life. The title was transferred to her little brother Romulus, completely bypassing her parents, Ruben found this to be...darkly amusing."

Luluka snorted out a watery laugh at that, "Gods help us all if that little brat ends up like her," she muttered fondly.

Nodding the immortal continued, "She was buried with honors here in Pendragon, I can take you to see her later if you'd like." Luluka nodded quickly at that while whispering her thanks, "As for everything else, it is...convoluted to say the least, honestly we can blame this on you planning for basically every contingency and your father being the schemer that he is.

"For starters, why am _I_ here with you now? Because no one knows what your geass is and Charles doesn't want to take the chance of you escaping again. Oh, and your previous escape by the way? Impressed everyone thoroughly since it was caught on tape, you have many fanboys and girls now. Well, more then you had already which was quite a few but still."

Luluka groaned at that causing C.C.'s lips to twitch up but she plowed forward to get this meeting over with, "I didn't betray you, more like I was drawn in when Charles, Naoto, Suzaku, and Kallen's little gamble paid off. Essentially your plans unraveled when the JLF attacked and you went err...blood knight on them, all of it was televised by the way.

"You and Jeremiah, who I'm sure you'll be glad to hear is alive, managed to wipe out all but one of the Four Holy Swords and even then he ran away injured. You defeated Tohdoh in single combat, which along with your little speech before your massacre you've managed to make yourself an icon. Last I heard you were being called the 'White Demon of Britannia' by most."

Luluka raised a brow at that, "The Lancelot is blue."

C.C. shrugged, "You're white, and people are superficial and stupid, trust me this is better then some of the other monikers. Or would you have preferred to be called 'The Prodigal Princess?'"

"Bugger me," Luluka muttered earning a snort from C.C.

"Quite, on top of that your adoptive brother Suzaku Kururugi and his partner the noblewoman Kallen Stadtfeld took it upon themselves to destroy what remained of the JLF forces and captured their leader. Who was none other then Suzaku's own father, who he turned over to Cornelia and her entourage after giving the man a thorough beating. With all that in play along with the Black Knights scurrying to help both Elevens and Britannians alike Charles made an announcement, you had been acting on his orders with his blessing the entire time."

At that Luluka sat up breaking C.C.'s hug causing said immortal to pout a bit as her contractor spun her head to lock her shocked eyes to her own, "WHAT?!"

Snickering a bit C.C. nodded once, "Your brother and the Stadtfelds helped that along, apparently after the invasion you contacted your father asking him to make a wager with you. Allow you to prove the Japanese were strong, strong enough to stand on their own, with no resources other then what you had acquired for yourself.

"If you could prove that the 'weak Elevens' could reach the strength of proper Britannians, he would agree to turn Japan into a special administrative territory giving everyone living there full citizenship. Your success would thus help cement yourself a closer claim to the throne, a rather convoluted if not effective shot at becoming Empress as it were."

Luluka was gaping like fish which only had C.C.'s snicker turn into a giggle, "Of course, if you lost, and managed to survive, you would be forced to return to the family in shame and accept whatever political marriage he saw fit to force you in. Essentially, you wagered the Japanese peoples equality against you becoming a slave, and you won."

Luluka completely lost it there, "HOW! Never mind the batshit insanity of that plan, but how can he even justify what I did! I blew up a fucking fleet! A fucking _CARRIER!_ I've murdered hundreds if not thousands of soldiers, caused countless _billions_ in property damage and openly insulted the Emperor! HOW!?" she screamed in exasperation.

Maybe this was too much too soon...ah well, in for a penny and all that.

"One tiny little lynch pin holds the entire facade together, your Knight of Honor, Sir Jeremiah Gottwald and his placement as Deputy Viceroy. It would appear that his position as Clovis's second had been at your behest to your father so you could have the loyal knight report all of your actions to the Viceroy beforehand in order to minimize loses. You actively went against your own best interests in the hopes your brother would act on it to preserve Britannian lives, it isn't your fault he never did."

Luluka blinked at that scratching her nose thoughtfully, "Huh...didn't think that contingency would have been useful for something like this, I just wanted Jerry's ass covered...huh."

C.C. rolled her eyes and continued, "So, with you outed as Zero, your bid for your father's approval exposed, and rising in the defense of your people at the cost of your own well being the Emperor has declared you won with all the benefits said victory revealed.

"Area Eleven is now the Special Administrative Zone of Japan, the Black Knights, since they're all trained to Britannian standards have been folded into the national guard. Naoto has been appointed the new Viceroy since he's a half blood noble meeting criteria from both sides and is beginning the process of unification, and here you are. Back in Britannia just like you always wanted, that's the story and everyone is sticking to it."

Luluka closed her eyes as she began to hyperventilate, C.C shifted herself behind the princess worming her legs to either side as she pulled her back into her chest, arms wrapping around the royals flat stomach in a comforting hug. Luluka leaned into the embrace and after several minutes calmed down to only laugh laconically before letting out a sob, dropping her head back to land on C.C's shoulder she finally whispered out two words.

"I lost," C.C., well she could only nod slowly in turn, licking her dry lips she sighed lightly as she silently wished that she didn't have to hurt her contractor like this, it was all so much too soon.

"This round, yes. Your power base has effectively been destroyed, they got what they wanted all along and while they're thankful they will never trust you again for hiding your identity. On top of which your actions have made you a very public hero of the empire and everyone the world over believes the lies because people are sheep. Why would the Emperor, the pontificator supreme of social Darwinism himself admit to losing, if he hadn't had a hand in it to begin with? At the moment, he has you in a position where you really have no where to turn unless you wish to become a nobody on the streets."

Luluka's response was a deadpan, "Why?"

C.C. shrugged as she reached a hand up to lightly stroke the young woman's cheek as said woman leaned into the gesture, "As crazy as it sounds? Charles is impressed, in fact he is incredibly impressed, and incidentally so is your mother. She's practically fan girling over everything you've done, and it ends up she wasn't fully aware of everything Charles had done to you and she's rather furious with him.

"So one could reason part of this is a husband trying to acquiescence his wife, that, and they're aware you have access to a super weapon and it's better to have you at their side rather then be in your path. As an aside I think they honestly just want their little girl home after realizing their past mistakes, they may be monsters but they _do_ have favorites."

Luluka snorted as she snuggled in closer to C.C. who only tightened her hold around the princess in turn, "Nero...huh...so they anticipated it...impressive... So...now what?"

C.C. dropped her head on Luluka's and smiled, "Well that's where it gets interesting. While Japan is effectively lost to you, Kallen and Suzaku are not, they're here in Pendragon waiting for your recovery. I'm not sure exactly what Charles has planned for you in the long term sorry to say. Short term the three of you are going to be entered into the same military academy Cornelia attended and you personally are going to be squired to a Knight of the Round after graduation, apparently they're holding an auction for the honor of training you. Oh right, as for the uniform I was head of the OSI before I left and they gave the position back to me, sorry, forgot about that one."

Luluka was silent for a while, mulling things over a bit before she began giggling, the giggling turned into laughter, which soon turned into maniacal cackling. After a time she settled down enough to spin in C.C's embrace, legs beneath her as she leaned forward, noses nearly touching.

"What of my geass?"

C.C., resisting the urge to blush, shrugged, "You'll have to wear an inhibitor, which is a double edged sword because it means while you can't cast a geass no one else will be able to cast their's upon you."

Luluka 'hmm'ed for a moment before nodding, leaning forward she kissed C.C. who, much to her surprise, returned it and openly pouted when the violet eyed beauty pulled back grinning.

"Why not, this sounds so...delightfully chaotic."

* * *

After taking a shower, putting on a clean change of clothes, which was only undergarments, sandals, and a violet sundress, Luluka re-entered her room as C.C. was opening a silver case.

Removing a thin black ribbon she turned to the royal giving her a wane smile, "This inhibitor will wrap around your throat as a choker, if you remove it without permission, which we'll discuss later, a signal will be sent to a team meant to...handle people like you. Please don't do that."

Nodding Luluka let out a sigh as the immortal put the device in place, thankfully it wasn't too tight. Glancing at the mirror and briefly acknowledging that it complemented the dress rather well she turned to C.C. smiling lightly, "Where to first?"

"Milly," was all she said in reply.

Suppressing the violent urge to scream and cry Luluka just nodded instead, "Ok."

Leaving the hospital the young beauties were escorted to an armored car that was thankfully already cranking the A/C, she'd forgotten how unbearably hot Arizona could be midday. A few minutes into the drive C.C. shifted her forearm underneath Luluka's and soon wrapped her fingers around her own, a moment later she squeezed their hands together gently.

Turning to the stoic faced immortal Luluka raised a single brow but got no response for her efforts, shrugging she instead dropped her head to C.C.'s shoulder and did something she never thought she would.

She stopped thinking. She completely blanked out her thoughts, schemes, and ideas, and just enjoyed this warm moment. She wasn't Lelouch's C.C., and she may never be really, but...for reasons the princess couldn't figure out, she was ok with that at the moment.

Too soon they pulled up to the cemetery and after passing the security post their car carefully meandered its way through the thin one lane road, eventually coming to a stop underneath an oak tree. Taking in a deep breath Luluka held it for several seconds before letting it out, turning to C.C. she nodded slowly before opening the door.

"Lets go," C.C. nodded in turn and soon began guiding her contractor through the various headstones and monuments eventually stopping before a large marble angel.

The inscription on it read _'Millicent Ashford-Vivacious In Life, Unforgotten Beyond'_ which had Luluka's lips curl up slightly, after a moment C.C. handed the young woman a single red rose earning her a thank you in turn.

Approaching the grave Luluka stopped before it not really knowing what to say, taking in that the dirt had already settled and grass was beginning to grow over it, her only thought was that at least it was better then what Nunnally had gotten. Noting that there were dozens of wreaths, flowers, pieces of candy and the like piled around the headstone Luluka was suddenly feeling a strange form of anger. Were they placed there because people had known and mourned the wonderful woman, or was it because she was Luluka's girlfriend?

Scowling she took a knee and placed the rose on still exposed dirt before placing her hand into the soil, "You were wrong, and so was I in the end Milly. I wasn't lying, well, maybe to myself. I loved you...and I always will...I am so sorry...I'll...I'll make sure Rom doesn't end up like your parents, I don't think you'd forgive me if I let him grow into a prat. I'll never gloss over anything he asks about you, I'll tell him the truth, you were brilliant."

The next bit came out as a whimpered whisper, "When I die next time...I hope it sticks...because I want to see you again, call me selfish. Goodbye, my love." With that she stood up and began walking back to the car quickly followed by C.C. who stared at her contractor in concern as she noted the tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry you had to visit her in the rain Luluka, but it couldn't be helped after all." Luluka glanced to the sunny sky in confusion before finally noticing the tears still streaming from her eyes, sniffling slightly she took C.C.'s hand and squeezed it once in thanks.

"I know right? Bloody meteorologists, only profession were you can be wrong consistently and still keep your job."

C.C.'s lips twitched up for a moment as she nodded in agreement, "Unfair job security there." Re-entering the car the two sat in silence for a time, eventually Luluka once again dropped her head to C.C.'s shoulder.

"Thank you."

C.C. smiled in turn resting her head against her charges, and instead of saying something sarcastic, scathing, or teasing, she simply stated, "You're welcome."

* * *

 **Next up, meeting up with Charles, and reuniting with Kallen and Suzaku, please review!**


	16. Daddy's Girl

**This would not have been written if my friend Lady Lily Anne hadn't prompted me to go through with it, as things are enjoy it. The chaos this story embraces is honestly at times a bit overwhelming, one of the many reasons it takes so long to update. Still though, it's been a fun ride and honestly, Zero Fucks to Give Lelouch is a lot of fun to write, I just have to have the proper motivations.**

 **Anyway, this is a prelude to a massive World War campaign, enjoy Lulu at her finest.**

 **Please Review.**

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Princess Luluka had been lulled into a light slumber during the ride to the Imperial Palace all while clinging onto C.C.'s arm as she rested her head against the immortals shoulder, who for her part seemed more amused than anything else at the action. When they arrived at their destination C.C. tried to wake the Princess with a gentle shrug, which only caused the royal's grip to tighten around the claimed appendage.

Now fully smiling she flicked Luluka's nose a few times and the young woman lightly batted the persistent digit away with a few annoyed swats before cracking her eyes open. She took in C.C.'s grinning visage, her position in the limo, and the backdrop through the window in less than a second before sighing.

"Time to talk to father?" She asked in a tired tone releasing C.C.'s arm, cracking her neck to the side whilst stretching her arms outwards in the process.

"Not quite, you have to meet some old friends first, then you get to speak to Chuck, follow me," and with that C.C. popped the door open and hopped out onto the sunlit pavement. Luluka sighed and followed the woman and instantly felt like the air itself was trying to kill her with its afternoon heat. Japan certainly had its hot seasons but it had _nothing_ on Arizona in the summer thank you very much.

Counting her blessings that she was in a light sundress she followed C.C. up the pure white marble stairs leading into the Palace proper, all while noting the distinct lack of the typical court hangers on. No ladies in waiting, no butlers, no servants, no sycophantic nobles attempting to curry favor by sucking up to her all while at the same time insulting her mixed heritage.

It was a rather nice change, and for the first time in nearly a decade she didn't feel the unyielding urge to murder the first noble she got her hands on as she approached the palace threshold.

How odd, this lack of rage, she was fairly certain her sisters would be appreciative of the change in attitude though.

Blood was after all hard to get out of the upholstery.

C.C. led her through the open main doors and through the foyer, soon turning towards the wing reserved for high ranking nobles. This really didn't surprise Luluka that much if at all. The rooms housed in that wing were often shared between the higher nobility and the younger royalty so she was rather surprised when she saw what the open doors revealed.

Suzaku and Kallen were leaning against the far wall, both dressed in the finely embroidered clothes of the high nobility, and looking quite contrite all the same. As one the pair glanced up and started slightly as they noticed Luluka standing in the doorway, seemingly frozen in place.

She blinked back tears of relief as she eyed her chosen family, frankly she had cried quite enough for Milly, there was no need to waste tears of relief for her beloved that survived. She was in the palace now, the lions den, and the slightest hint of a tear would signify weakness.

So she smiled instead, a heartbreakingly beautiful smile, one tinged with all she could not say out loud.

And the two understood.

Of course they did, how could they not understand their leader, their inspiration, their focus.

Their sister.

Suzaku opened up his arms, awaiting a hug. "Come here, I've missed you."

Luluka rushed towards him, basking in the embrace of her dearest friend as his strong arms wrapped around her.

She was no longer alone.

C.C. may have been with her, but she could not fully trust her as long as her mother was still alive and connected to the witch. But Kallen and Suzaku, the two who had fought for her just as she had fought for them? If she could not trust them, then who could she trust?

Pulling away from Suzaku, she embraced Kallen, not wanting to leave her out. Finally pulling away from her friends, she inspected them closely for any injuries they might have hidden, knowing they were doing the same to her.

Glancing over their clothes and taking in exactly how fine they really were, Luluka frowned. "Why are you guys dressed like you're members of the royal family? I'm not angry, but if anyone else saw, you'd be arrested, especially since those fabrics and accompanying crests are supposed to be only reserved for the royal family and its retainers."

Kallen coughed awkwardly. "About that..."

The green-eyed brunette rolled said eyes and cut in, "Thanks to our oh so special rescue and protection of you for the past decade, on top of bringing in the leader of the Japanese Rebellion, the Emperor granted us individual titles of nobility. As of now, we're just one step down from you in the noble hierarchy."

The reincarnated royal blinked owlishly at that, trying to process this new information. Clearly, this was just another move in the game between herself and her father, but who would benefit from it more? And why such high titles? And...

Staring at Kallen a moment, Luluka couldn't help chirping out, "Who was your tailor? You are _rocking_ that bodice!"

Kallen grinned while glancing down at her attire, "I know right? The fitting was a bitch but totally worth it!"

As the girls nattered on Suzaku sighed in exasperation, the more things changed, the more they stay the same. The last time he'd seen his oldest friend act like that was when Milly... Nevermind, he'd keep his peace on this one, let her have this small dose of normalcy.

She deserved it.

Twenty minutes later Luluka was being fitted into a strapless floor length violet taffeta dress the same shade as her eyes, covered with a black lace bodice. She felt it looked a bit like a prom dress and the women fitting her agreed with a bit of eagerness.

"It is along the same lines I suppose, formal while not being too formal. After all no one expects you to be wearing a full ball gown or uniform after what you've endured."

Kallen threw her two pence in at that, "Nor expected you to be properly measured and outfitted after a few weeks of being in a coma mixed with grievous bodily harm. By the way, you and I are going to have a talk about reenacting action movie scenes dozens of stories above the ground, yeah it looked badass, but seriously what the literal hell were you thinking?"

Luluka winced at that while Suzaku nodded in agreement, jade eyes hardening a bit as one of the ladies fitting her giggled lightly while she whispered quietly so only the royal could hear.

"Bit of an over protective family you've built for yourself milady, if you don't mind my saying as such."

Luluka could only smirk and nod in turn while muttering her reply, "You have no idea, but I love them regardless."

Eventually the ladies left the three friends while Luluka observed herself in the mirror. Pulling off a few kata and dance moves she nodded in approval.

She had nearly regained all her pre-Tokyo Invasion flexibility and the dress didn't hinder her movements much outside of making high kicks next to impossible, Kallen and Suzaku made similar observations and all three seemed content with that.

Priorities, they had them. Now if only she could talk the guards into giving her a sword...

Or a shotgun, if she was going to be indulging in pipe dreams, ah well, if she decided that suicide was a viable option she'd just kill her father with her bare hands. Easily within her means, and viscerally appealing as well.

Slipping into the simple black heels that had accompanied the dress she took in a deep breath before turning to the door which seemed to swing open on its own accord. To her complete and utter surprise, her brother Odysseus was standing in the threshold grinning widely, rushing forward he pulled Luluka into a hug and to add to the shock he plucked her off the ground and swung her about a few times.

She had no idea how she hadn't lost a shoe in the ordeal but best not to question good luck, they were nice shoes and she certainly didn't want them scuffed.

"Oh my dearest little sister you look _marvelous,_ and you still clean up so well. Hmm, we should probably schedule a chess match sometime soon yes? You were always so obsessed with that game! I've found so many adorable outfits over the years for you to try on, I had thought perhaps it was a fools errand since the reports of your passing were rather graphic and succinct, but still, I held out hope. I'm glad that the rumors of your demise were all rubbish, pity about Nunnally though. She _was_ the best of us, but the good always die young it would seem.

"I like the lace by the way, very 'I'm an adult damnit' while still giving off a vibe of innocence. Not that anyone who knew you personally would ever be foolish enough to call you innocent. Now why are you still standing there, we need to do your makeup and your meeting with father is in less than an hour."

Lelouch's mind froze as Luluka's memories took hold; in the past Odysseus would only agree to a game of chess for a wager, the wager unfortunately being Luluka having to pose in, what could only be called 'adorable' outfits, and the subsequent photo shoot. The man had always had a...well, not _quite_ creepy fixation on how cute she'd been as a kid.

As little faith as she had in humanity Odysseus honestly thought she was the cutest thing in the world. While disconcerting, it was completely innocent, he really did just think she was so adorable that she needed the constant attention, no matter how unwanted it was.

It was like...having a really affectionate overbearing aunt who enjoyed showing off embarrassing photos of her favorite niece just so everyone else could bask in the innocent adorableness. Not malicious, it just made you want to shoot yourself in the fucking head over the embarrassment.

Twice.

As Luluka was dragged off to a vanity by her brother and promptly pushed into the plush chair Suzaku leaned in to whisper in Kallen's ear, "I thought Clovis was the flamboyant one."

She suppressed a snicker while quickly replying, "He is, but it's all an act to play up the Royal Dandy image to get women into bed, this is how Odysseus really is when he lets his diplomatic mask drop. It's one of those dirty little secrets of the courts that everyone knows about but doesn't mention, you know, polite society stuff. Really, why do you think the crown prince is in his thirties and not married?"

Suzaku nodded slowly in response as he watched Odysseus's personal assistant hand the prince various applicators as he worked on Luluka's makeover. After a time he asked, "So is it a big deal to have him do her makeup like this?"

Kallen turned to him aghast and he realized that for once, this wasn't feigned horror, "Suzaku it would be like the Wright brothers personally inspected your aircraft design and gave it their approval. When the courts find out about this it is going to earn Lulu, and _us_ by proxy so much political clout it isn't even funny. Yes, this is a _big_ deal."

Suzaku remained quite for a time before asking, "Does this mean more people are going to want to kill us?"

Kallen grinned and nodded, "Totes, a lot more."

Suzaku sighed in relief at that as he slid onto the couch beside her, "Oh good, consistency, at least we still have that."

* * *

Holding onto Suzaku's arm as he escorted her to the throne room Luluka couldn't help feeling a bit pensive, and who could blame her really? While the Emperor, her father, had given her amnesty publicly, god only knew if that would extend to the reality of the situation. On a side note Suzaku was staring at her with hungry eyes and it was mildly distressing since it was confusing the hell out of her. Going along with that note...

"You look amazing, by the way," Suzaku stated earning a smile from her in the process. Yeah, that hadn't been part of the plan, but she had been dolled up in a manner she had only very rarely indulged in since her exile and she would readily admit to it.

She looked damn good, Milly would have been practically panting at this point really. It was...pleasant that the thought of her dead lover didn't put her in a catatonic state. Just...sad, and wanting.

As the pair were followed by Odysseus, who was escorting Kallen, and C.C., who was playing Tetris on her phone, they soon stopped before the massive alabaster doors leading to Charles' inner sanctum.

"This is where we must leave you little sister, father wants to talk to you, alone, please try not to anger him I only just got you back after all."

Glancing to Odysseus she nodded once while squeezing Suzaku's hands tightly, he gave her a piercing stare before leaning down and kissing her brow briefly.

"Good luck," swallowing what would have likely been an inappropriately sarcastic remark she nodded and pushed her way through the doors. Kallen, Suzaku, C.C. and Odysseus all stared after her, concern evident on all their faces, though she never turned around to see it.

In her mind, she was humming along to Holst's Mars, Bringer of War as she prowled down the velvet red carpet before her, ignoring the heavy doors slamming shut behind her as she eventually stopped before Charles' throne.

Let slip the hounds of war and all that, as she stared up at her father he returned her burning violet gaze with his own and they remained like that for nearly thirty seconds. Then, the unexpected happened, and Charles broke out into a fit of laughter.

Eventually, he calmed down enough to address his thoroughly confused daughter, "I apologize, it is just...you look so much like your mother when she was in one of her moods I could not help myself." With that the massive man stood from his throne and walked down to Luluka, he stared at her a few moments and while she was about to throw out a scathing barb the Emperor of Britannia scooped her up into an all encompassing hug as he pulled her up tightly to his chest.

Every impulse demanded she resist him, but when he leaned his head down to her ear and whispered, "I'm sorry," she froze up.

With those two words Charles managed to derail Luluka vi Britannia's ability to think rationally as she sank into her fathers warm embrace. This was, after all, exactly what she had always wanted, her father being more than a sperm donor, actually owning up to rearing his children...caring about them as people, finally...

"You should be...you arse..."

Charles only laughed in return.

"Your mother called me worse, and she was never really wrong, honestly."

Luluka could only giggle at that. Eventually he released her and placed Luluka back on the ground as she nodded slowly while he seated himself on the steps leading up to his throne, she remained standing but her posture made it very clear she wasn't relaxing any time soon. Eventually Charles just sighed as he stared up at the ceiling as he finally spoke on the subject at hand.

"Your friends, Kozuki and Kururugi, they've been given the ranks of Duchess of Scotland and the Duke of Wales, you yourself, have been given the title of Queen of England. I know they are hollow titles, but that's where your brilliant mind comes in."

Charles met her gaze evenly as he grinned only as a Royal could, "I know what you did, I know you were trying to overthrow my Empire, I know you don't care about any of the politicking going on around you. _But_ I also know you are a girl who loves her country, if not the system, and you still harbor a soft spot for the mother land.

"What I'm tasking you with is quite simple, after your training, I want you to take your friends, build an army, and claim the Mother Isles to form your own sub-Empire. I want you to take Britain back, however you see fit, consider it a gift, a...recompense for how horrible of a father I was, for the pain you had to endure.

The British Isles are yours, if you can take them back."

Luluka stared at him for a time before sighing, leaning down she kissed his brow before standing tall and proud before him, "Well played ...dad... When do classes begin?"

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 **Charles isn't an idiot, and Lulu is not a saint, please review.**


	17. The Demon of Britannia

**I am as shocked as you are. My cohort Lady Lily Anne got this rolling, please enjoy the insanity and review.**

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"Do I really have to do this?" C.C. rolled her golden eyes at the petulant whine of her ward as she was being gently fitted by an army of seamstresses and courtiers. It was only the immortals acknowledgment that the young teen was uncomfortable not being in direct control of her surroundings that kept her from making a scathing comment on decorum.

That, and said royal being incessantly jerked around as her dress was brought in with an armory's worth of pins and sewing needles while being surrounded by a bunch of empty headed gossips.

She and the young princess had that much in common, suffering the presence of idiots was incredibly taxing on ones calm.

"Yes," C.C. stated flatly as she sifted through nearly seven years of reports from the position she'd abandoned upon Lady Marianne's assassination. V.V., the brat he was, truly had no idea what the hell he had been doing and just trying to make heads or tails of his bang jacked budget was giving her a headache.

She truly could not wait till the day Charles just let her off the traitorous little hobgoblin.

"Why?" This was a resigned statement rather than a whine so C.C. felt it deserved more than a terse response.

"It is your first public appearance since your return that _doesn't_ involve you wiping out an entire army on your own in a fever infused blood frenzy. Chuck went through a lot of effort to put this entire facade together and now you have to do your part to keep the veneer shiny and smooth."

Princess Luluka let out a withering sigh at that, "I hate it when you use logic and experience on me. I naturally want to argue but I have to bow to what you've learned in your extended lifespan."

C.C. froze at that, lowered the report, and took in the Princess's smug visage a moment as a single lime green brow rose up incredulously.

"Did you just call me old?" The princess shrugged minutely while smirking, then gasped and scowled as the motion caused her to get poked with a pin. "Well played, I at the very least don't have to worry about you messing up the polite double talk of upper society. That being said Kallen and Suzaku aren't happy about this either, they are both experienced at this sort of thing but it has been awhile for them so they're being re-tutored on how to behave in their new positions."

Luluka blinked in honest confusion at that, "They are better educated than most of the Royal family. We ran a bloody insurrection maintained solely through our ability to move through all social levels seamlessly without warranting any extra attention for crying out loud."

"Exactly, without warranting extra attention. They are High Nobility now, they are more important than everyone else in the world aside from the Royal line and the Emperor himself, so they have to learn how to properly act as the consorts of the Demon of Britannia."

Luluka couldn't help it, she broke away from the grabby hands of the ladies taking in her dress to give the immortal an incredulous stare, "My consorts? Seriously? Don't they know we have been posing as family for years?"

"Kallen and Suzaku are beautiful by anyone's standard, are quite obviously _not_ related to you, just as obviously completely devoted to you, and a ménage à trois makes for a better sale on the overall story regardless. After all, you _are_ the daughter of Charles zi Britannia, who would ever question your greed in claiming the Red Queen and the White Knight for yourself?" C.C. shrugged in an uncaring manner as she motioned for the women to get back to work on the royal.

Rather then reacting negatively, she was, after all, experienced with teasing of a sexual nature thanks to her dearly departed girlfriend, Luluka simply let out a tired sigh as she slowly raised an arm to pinch the bridge of her nose. Thankfully, she'd been obvious enough with her motions that the seamstresses didn't end up poking her again.

"Bloody Britannia...all right, anything else I should know about this evening?"

C.C. hummed a bit as she snatched a slice of pizza off her plate and tore a bite out of it as she plucked the evening itinerary off the edge of table, "Hmm, being held in the Gardens of Isabella su Britannia. Lets see...lot of media elements, guests are mostly your various stepmothers and half-siblings, a handful of courtly hangers-on and the like as well. Charles plans on making an appearence and... Oh."

Luluka's back stiffened at that, "Oh? I don't like 'Oh', 'Oh' is usually followed by colorful expletives as enemy artillery rains down on your position."

C.C. sighed as she tossed the paper, and pizza, aside.

"You'd be right on that account, apparently Isabella arranged for multiple potential suitors to be there and try to claim your hand, or at the very least discuss betrothal contracts."

There was a moment of silence before Luluka let out yet another tired sigh, "Witch, have you ever had a doomsday device? A method of mind searingly incomprehensible violence that could bring humanity to its knees in a manner that it would never likely recover from? A device that you helped put together out of nothing more than your complete and utter apathy towards mankind and you keep it in reserve as a potential method of just spiting the world for existing?"

C.C. blinked, thought of Ragnarök, and nodded, "Yes."

"You ever get tempted to press the little red button just to watch the fools run around in panic as the fireworks begin while you are comfortable in the knowledge their collective idiocy had been ended by your hand?"

C.C. hummed as she played with a loose lock of hair then, nodding once again chirped out, "Every other day, at least."

Luluka sighed in relief, "Good...glad to know I'm not alone in that regard."

Watching her ward in a slightly more agreeable light C.C. turned back to her reports smirking slightly, "You truly are the most interesting person I've met since George...I think I'll be sticking around awhile longer. Just to keep an eye on you of course."

Luluka scoffed rolling her eyes, "Of course."

Two hours later, most of which was once again spent getting dolled up by Odysseus and having her hair done, Princess Luluka vi Britannia was escorted to a limo along with C.C. and they were soon on course for Manchester Way and the su Britannia flower gardens.

There was a comfortable silence for a time, but eventually C.C. spoke up in a light tone, "The Aries Villa will be finished with its upgrades and restaffing by the end of the week by the way. Lord Jeremiah and Lady Sayoko have gone a bit...overboard on assuring themselves that your safety is guaranteed."

Luluka snorted at that as she met the immortals gaze, "What's the damage?"

C.C. resisted the urge to laugh as she shook her head, "Low three hundred million sterling. I'm fairly certain the only place more secure than your childhood home is the Imperial Palace, and honestly I'm not really sure about that one. Last I heard through the grapevine was that you had recently acquired pop-up surface to air missile turrets in your back gardens."

The princess sighed at that shaking her head slowly, "You know if I wasn't a billionaire I might be annoyed with them...anything else?"

C.C. nodded as she handed a pill and a bottle of water to the royal, "Yes take this." Normally paranoia would demand she do anything but, yet if C.C. had wanted her dead she had a couple months to do it in a far less conspicuous manner. Taking the pill with a swig of water Luluka handed the bottle back as she cracked her neck while tilting her head to the side.

"What was it, I know you wouldn't tell me before taking it by the by, so spill."

C.C. snorted in amusement, "A Xanax, seriously I am the head of the OSI again, been essentially assigned as your retainer, and have to answer directly to Chuck for your actions. You are about to be surrounded by the most self entitled, selfish, condescending, and petty women in the entire world. If I didn't dope you up with something to calm you down, emergency services would be storming this area in a few hours only to find the gardens burnt to the ground and you laughing maniacally covered in blood standing upon a pile of well dressed corpses."

Luluka stared at her a few moments tilting her head to the side while tapping her chin, then nodded as she turned her gaze back to the window, "You aren't _wrong._ "

C.C. replied with a dry, "I know."

As the car stopped before the su Britannia gardens Luluka glanced over to the immortal witch while sighing lightly, "When will Suzaku and Kallen get here?"

The limette shrugged, "Honestly? No idea, don't worry though I know you can handle this. I'm heading to the security room, just make nice, play the perfect little princess for the cameras and play them like a fiddle, just like you always have."

Luluka stared at her a few moments, reached over squeezing the immortals hands fondly, then she popped the door and made her way up the staircase.

Thankfully Arizona at early evening wasn't _that_ hot, a little stifling at times sure, but with the pleasant breeze blowing off the surrounding rivers cooling the city of Pendragon off, it all felt rather comforting.

It...felt like home.

Entering the building proper the princess was escorted through several rooms containing marble pillars, decadent art, and well dressed servants going about their business.

Shows of power that the lady of the house probably thought were subtle but came off as the clumsy actions of a plebeian, not that Luluka would ever point it out to Lady Isabella. The posturing of these idiots was too funny to give up due to a bit of helpful advice after all.

Finally arriving at the back gardens, which seemed to consist of a hedge maze, dozens of a small islands of roses, and far too much ivy all lit with gas torches and lamps, the princess casually handed her calling card to the courtier at the top of the steps.

He glanced at it, eyes widening, before coughing lightly into his gloved hand, "Announcing the Third Princess Luluka vi Britannia, Fifth in the line of secession, and the Demon of Britannia."

She smirked at that, Cornelia always balked whenever she was called out as the Witch of Britannia, an epitaph given by those she had crushed beneath her heel, much preferring her homelands title of 'The Goddess of Victory.'

Luluka knew who she was though, just as Lelouch before had.

Luluka was a Demon, her enemies and allies alike labeled her as such, and they would all soon realize how right they were.

Prowling down the staircase and ignoring the mutterings that she had arrived without escort the Princess snatched a stem of wine off a passing waiter's tray and downed it in two gulps. Dropping the expensive crystal glass in a potted plant she grabbed another and made a beeline for the only person who she could truly get along with here.

Sidling up to the man she sipped her fresh drink, eyes shifting about the area before speaking, "I am so so so sorry about Lancelot."

Earl Lloyd Asplund glanced at her a moment before smiling widely, "Think nothing of it princess. The combat data you acquired, plus being able to look over Rakshata's machines was more than worth it, plus with your rather stellar success being caught on camera my budget has been increased tenfold."

She blinked at that, grinning widely in turn, "Truly? I'm glad to hear that. While I'm being forced to finish school with my friends I've been given a rather arduous assignment that begins upon my graduation which will require keen minds to complete, would you be willing to help?"

He 'hmmed' at that a moment before shrugging, "I can't see why not, what did you have in mind?"

She grinned wickedly at that, "A three hundred meter long, five hundred meter wide, energy shield equipped airship armed with hadron cannons and rapid fire VARIS CWIS systems. Oh, and I have two other devicers that actually exceed me in Knightmare combat skills and we are all willing to submit to testing to further improve your future models."

Lloyd was silent for a very long time, eventually he finished his wine, nodded and met her gaze through his round glasses, "I'll arrange for my family to be formally sworn to you by the end of the week. Does your mystery ship have a name?"

Luluka took another sip from her glass nodding in turn, "The class does, the Logres air battleship. As an aside, I have a few ideas for the Lancelot and the new frame you recently cooked up, the Gawain, if you're willing to hear me out that is."

Lloyd scoffed at that rolling his eyes to the sky, "Willing to hear her out she says. The only surviving daughter of Marianne the Flash, the only devicer that could handle my prototype, and the woman who used said prototype to defeat an army single handily, asking if I was willing to hear her out. Yes my dear girl, I'll hear you out, but for now, I need to get some legaleeze rolling so I can fully commit to your projects, ta."

And just like that, the worlds most brilliant sociopath wandered off into the crowds leaving a bemused princess to her own devices.

Said royal was taking in the surrounding gardens with a clinical eye, not really approving or judging of anything as she sipped on wine and made small talk with the various bobble-heads wandering the area. She honestly wasn't one hundred percent sure if this casual greeting was a slight or not, on one hand she could easily see her compatriots arranging for the various leaches to end up being redirected. On the other, she could see all these petty little courtesans arranging the lack of interest in her as a slight, which, really, didn't bother her at all.

With that she sighed as she embraced her mild buzz and took in her surroundings silently wishing Suzaku and Kallen would show up already.

While the gardens hosting her return party to upper society were classy and well kept Princess Luluka had a hard time finding beauty in them after her time in Japan. It wasn't that she'd gone native or anything mind, although she was rather fond of koi ponds even after the frog incident, rather it was six years of planning an insurrection that had changed things.

Imperial Gardens were, to the last, regimented, regulated and absolutely calculated to the finest degree to look as pompous, pretentious, and perfect as possible, while trying to make it look like no effort at all was exerted. It was a work that turned the wild beauty of nature into something rigid, utilitarian, and controlled completely negating the chaos of the real world.

So while Luluka would acknowledge the fact that the gardens were Britannian perfect, she saw no real beauty in them because she had spent over half a decade coming up with the most hair brained, off the wall, and chaotic methods to wage war against the worlds most powerful nation.

Because, really, there was just so much beauty in well planned out and executed destruction.

Rigging up a series of Sakuradite infused nuclear weapons to cause a miles wide sink hole in the ocean that consumes two entire fleets and not even leave a ripple behind in the process? Art.

Hedge mazes so well manicured they looked like plastic, and you are supposed to giggle demurely at the many hidden floral trappings within as if they were clever rather than calculated? Not Art.

This wine was amazing though, or at the very least had high enough an alcohol content where Luluka could forget about how uncomfortable she was with all this attention long enough to babble to herself about the shrubs...Where the hell were Suzaku and Kallen?

This rather irritated and approaching drunken thought was interupted by a lithe little redhead teen staring up at her in awe, "Sister Luluka? You...do you remember me?"

Staring at the blue eyed girl a few moments Luluka nodded in recogonition, "Ah little Carine ne Brittania, how are you doing sister? Still playing Civ I assume?"

The girl seemed to writhe in pleasure a moment at being remembered by the Demon of Britannia as she grasped Luluka's hand not holding a wine glass, "I'm...yes I am still playing strategy games but... Really, I...just wanted to talk."

"Oh? about what?"

"The war! Your war! You challenged father and won! I want to hear about it all! Your victories, your losses, I want to know the gory details!"

How endearingly bloodthirsty, she liked the girl already.

"Well...first off I needed money, and as it turns out noblemen are idiots and will pay up even if you are just a slip of a girl who beat them at a game of chess, pride comes before the fall and all that. Once you get a bit of capital, that's when the investing starts."

She realized, with a bit of shock, that she'd been talking to her little sister for over an hour on the finer points of toppling an empire in the most amusing manner possible. What drew her from her rather enjoyable reverie was the realization that she was now surrounded by dozens of her step-mothers and half-sisters, all of them pointedly ignoring her as they nattered on to each other.

It was...almost amusing, considering the fact that all it would take to end them was for her to tear off the Geass inhibitor at her throat and order them all to die.

But...Well... They offered no real threat, they ignored her, she ignored them, they thought they were snubbing her, and she didn't care since they had always angered her regardless. Win win really.

Thankfully Carine was a slightly sadistic little thing so the following lead in worked well for how buzzed and pissed off Luluka was at the moment.

"When did you kill your first man? I mean...you are Zero after all, you had to have killed people personally right?"

The gathered ladies gave the slightly wild-eyed redhead glares of disdain but said teen was too starstruck to care. Luluka for her part took another sip of her wine and despite wavering into slurring territory she managed to keep her composure.

"Hmmm, I was ten, actually. About...two...three weeks after Suzaku and I buried Nunnally." This caused several people to cough uncomfortably or avert their eyes but Luluka was too far gone to care at this point. "Anyway, they pinned us down in a small one horse town, you know one of those places with a gas station and a drug store and little else. At that point we were desperate for food, practically ravenous really."

She laughed darkly at that earning a few concerned glances as she continued on, "Oh man, post industrial societies have no infrastructure in place for long term disaster scenarios...ah well. Anyway Suzaku and I split up and I got cornered by a pair of guys in the drug store, they recognized me and one of them decides he always wanted to find out what a royal pussy felt like. A real Shakespearean there..."

At _that_ all the gathered women stopped sneering as horror etched on their faces while the Princess continued unabated, "Now at this point I'm running on little more than adrenaline and spite. Just recently buried my little sister, and having had to fight for my survival in a war zone for weeks. So, I snapped."

Carine leaned forward with an awed expression as she prodded her sister on, "What happened? What did you do?"

Luluka sipped her wine before shrugging, "I bit out his jugular, tore is clean open actually. Was the most bizarre feeling, having still pulsing strands of flesh stuck between your teeth... Anyway he fell on the ground screaming in agony as his buddy just stood there in horror as I licked my lips clean of the dying mans blood and swallowed it all down. I was so starved at the moment it was the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted, and I wanted more. At that point Suzaku followed the sounds of confrontation and stabbed the other guy through the throat with a spear we'd made out of a broom handle and a bayonet and that was all she wrote."

She sipped her wine again and shrugged, "It was memorable I admit, but really I had topped that a dozen times by the time I was thirteen. You can do _so_ many interesting things with a car battery."

There was nothing but silence to meet this tale, Carine looked enamored, everyone else looked queasy.

Eventually one of the older women coughed loudly to gain everyone's attention, it was Guinevere's mother Isabella the hostess of this little party, and apparently she had something to say about Luluka's little tale.

"Well, I do hope you received a medical screening after that, no telling what you caught forcefully consuming bodily fluids from an Eleven after all." Her disdainful sniff and wording were a nice added touch Luluka decided as she in turn responded with a laugh and a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh that isn't a worry, I know he was clean."

Cue another sniff, "Oh? How would you know that?"

Luluka's grin turned feral at that as she prowled away from the gathered ladies, "Simple, Office of Secret Intelligence operatives are required to be up to date on all vaccinations before being sent out on field duty. I was in the clear."

Sauntering away as she sipped her wine Luluka couldn't help it as her grin shifted into a self satisfied smirk while the gathered Royals stood there in dead silence.

All but Carine that is, the petite redhead rushed to her side a bottle of wine in hand as her blue eyes stared up to her half sister in awe.

"Who else have you killed?"

Drunk, high, and pissed off, Luluka shrugged in amusement.

"Well there was this one shithead in Tokyo who tried to get me into bed through a chess match, then through blackmail..."

* * *

 **The weird part is I never intended Carine to become an apprentice of sorts but it looks like that is exactly where she is heading.**

 **Huh...**

 **Well, please review**


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